LAMANRIAU.COM, PEKANBARU – For the first time, the Great Center for Conservation of Natural Resources (BBKSDA) of Riau installed a GPS Collar to a group of wild elephants. This installation is done to make it easier to see the movement so that it does not enter into residential areas.
“We installed the GPS Collar to the biggest elephant mother. This is to monitor the movement of the elephants so they do not approach the village,” said the Head of Riau BBKSDA, Suharyono, Thursday (1/23/2020).
This wild elephant group, said Haryono, has a home range (homerange) from Minas District, Siak, to Petapahan District Kampar to the border of Pekanbaru. This group of elephants often enter residential areas.
“The installation of GPS Collar makes it easy to see the movement of this elephant group so as to minimize conflict and material loss in residential areas,” Haryono said.
This GPS is placed behind the head of the elephant, precisely at the nape of the neck. The size of this object is quite large. Previously, this group of wild elephants, he said, had approached human settlements. So the Riau BBKSDA team did the driving away from the village to enter the forest area.
“This GPS Collar is the beginning of the installation of wild elephant groups in Riau. The plan will be followed by the installation of other wild elephant groups so that their movements can be easily monitored,” said Haryono. (dtc)
