“Bowling for Badak” Indonesia Tour: Rhino Protection Units

By Bill Konstant, IRF Program Oficer

Way Kambas National Park RPUs with IRF Bowling for Rhinos Tour

Together, the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) and the Rhino Foundation of Indonesia (Yayasan Badak Indonesia or YABI) manage 16 Rhino Protection Units (RPUs) in three national parks: Bukit Barisan Selatan (7), Way Kambas (5) and Ujung Kulon (4).  Rhino Protection Units (RPUs) are highly trained four-man anti-poaching teams that detect and deactivate traps and snares, identify and apprehend illegal intruders, and investigate wildlife crime scenes.     Each year, the American Association of Zookeepers (AAZK) helps support these protection efforts with funds raised through its Bowling for Rhinos events. This tour, in fact, is an opportunity for selected AAZK members to see firsthand how the RPUs accomplish their mission. It’s a special opportunity to spend time with the people on the ground who work to safeguard the future for the world’s two most endangered large land mammals – the Sumatran and Javan rhinos.

Arief Rubianto identifies Sumatran rhino food plant

The first RPU officer that our tour group meets is Arief Rubianto, who coordinates Sumatran rhino patrols and surveys in Bukit Barisan Selatan and Way Kambas National Parks.  His career in wildlife protection Has included battles with illegal loggers, gunfire exchanges with poachers, surviving days in the forest without food, and conducting undercover assignments as the leader of an Intelligence and Law Enforcement Unit (ILEU).  Arief learned a great deal about information gathering from his father, who served in military intelligence, and he has also garnered an incredible wealth of knowledge about tropical forest ecology in more than 20 years of field experience.  This experience not only helps him manage teams of rangers in the field and coordinate with government wildlife authorities and law enforcement departments, but also helps his staff communicate with local communities – people who close to nature.

RPU Hulu helps Lynn Blattman of the Cincinnati Zoo plant a tree in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park’s “Bowler’s Alley”

In Bukit Barisan we meet Meliaro Hulu, a senior RPU member.  Called Hulu by his colleagues, he began a career in wildlife conservation in 1988 as a keeper for the former Sumatran Rhino Trust.  Later, he was hired as one of the first RPUs at Kerinci Seblat National Park, formerly home to the Sumatran rhino.  Hulu took part in the capture of seven rhinos from this region years ago that helped establish an international captive breeding program.  Among them were Ipuh and Emi, who were eventually sent to the Cincinnati Zoo and produced three offspring – Andalas, Suci and Harapan.  A male named Torgamba lived at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary for a number of years, but never produced any young. And Hulu also helped capture Bina, one of three female rhinos still in residence at the sanctuary.

Bina and Torgamba at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary

Today, Hulu spends at least 15 days each month in the field on patrol and survey.  He and his co-workers sometimes encounter poachers who have greater numbers and superior weapons.  The mountainous topography in which he works is also challenging, and there’s always the danger of encountering elephants and tigers while on patrol.  Despite the hardships, Hulu considers his Rhino Protection Unit as the “best team ever on patrol for wildlife in Indonesia.”

RPU Uga Yuoswara with confiscated pangolin skins

In addition to rhinos, RPUs also work to protect a long list of other threatened species including little known creatures such as pangolins – small, scaly-skinned mammals that feed on ants, termites and other tiny invertebrates.  Pangolins are increasingly becoming victims of the illegal wildlife trade, sought both for their scales and meat. Another Bukit Barisan Selatan RPU ranger,Uga Yogaswara, last year helped arrest a pangolin poacher who was also involved in the local drug and weapons trade.  One member of our tour group, Rhishja Cota-Larson, was very excited to meet Uga and learn more about the successful prosecution, as her organization, Annamiticus, is raising public awareness regarding the poaching threat to pangolins.

Rhishja Cota-Larson of Annamiticus discusses the arrest and prosecution of a pangolin poacher with RPU Uga Yugoswara

“Bowling for Badak” IndonesiaTour

Sumatran rhino

By Bill Konstant

We’re Indonesia bound and bound to see badak, which means “rhinoceros” in Bahasa Indonesia, the national language.  In all likelihood, we will come face-to-face with  badak sumatera – Sumatran rhinos – but don’t have much of a chance of laying eyes upon one of the world’s last remaining badak jawa – Javan rhinos.  There are less than 50 of these rare creatures left in the world. More on that later.  For now, let’s define “we”.

Jennifer Ludwig, Gil Myers, Rhishja Cota-Larson, Logan Agan, Bill Konstant, Lynn Blattman and Gary Blattman

 

“We” are an eight-member tour group of rhino enthusiasts. Our Indonesian guide, Inov, and I work for the International Rhino Foundation. Then there’s Logan Agan and Gil Myers, a sea lion trainer from the Oklahoma City Zoo and a keeper at the National Zoo’s Cheetah Conservation Center, respectively. They were among the four top fundraisers in last year’s Bowling for Rhinos events, which collectively raised more than $300,000 for rhino conservation projects in Africa and Asia. Bowling for Rhinos is a signature program of the American Association of Zoo Keepers (AAZK), whose goal is to eventually generate at least a half million dollars each year to help save rhinos from extinction. Gil and Logan are joined by Jennifer Ludwig, formerly with the Maryland Zoo, Lynn Blattman of the Cincinnati Zoo’s Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Species (CREW), Lynn’s husband, Gary, and Rhishja Cota-Larson, founder of Annamiticus, an educational non-profit organization that provides information about endangered species, illegal wildlife trade, and wildlife crime.  Rhishja will be filming a series an educational web series called the Ancient Rhinos of Southeast Asia.

Our tour begins in several cities spread across the United States, with us non-Indonesians meeting up at Singapore’s Changi Airport, where we spend some time taking photographs in the Butterfly Garden.

Photographing butterflies in Changi Airport, Singapore

Butterfly Garden, Changi Airport

Butterfly Garden Changi Airport

From Singapore it’s on to Jakarta, where we’re met by Inov, and then on to Lampung Province in southern Sumatra.   This region is known for its rich natural wonders and critically endangered populations of Sumatran elephants, tigers and rhinos.

Inov, IRF’s Indonesia Liaison

Selamat datang (Welcome!) to Lampung Province

Tomorrow we’ll make our way to Way Kambas National Park, home of the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary and some of the world’s best known Sumatran rhinos. This is going to be a great adventure, so check back in a day or so for an update on our 2013 Bowling for Badak Tour.

Community Outreach Helps Protect Sumatran Rhinos

Community Outreach Helps Protect Sumatran Rhinos

By Aris Hendriyanto
Protecting wildlife and their habitat is the main job of the Rhino Protection Units (RPUs) in Way Kambas National Park. On patrol we often find illegal activities such as logging, fishing and poaching, and sometimes we have to arrest people.  We send them to the jail, but this doesn’t always stop them.  Sometimes, even after spending time in jail, they return to the national park to cut logs, catch fish, and try to shoot or trap other animals.

Every month our units meet and we discuss this problem. We all agree that it’s important to understand the lives of local people and what makes them break the law.  So, our job is not just to arrest lawbreakers, but also to educate them and help them change their ways.  Each month the RPUs work with the national park staff and meet with local communities, especially the farmers.  This is not our main job, but it is becoming more important all the time.   My friend Bonari and I began community outreach work in the village of Seputih Surabaya, located in central Lampung province. We chose this village because, based on intelligence information, a number of suspected poachers live there.

When we met with the farmers of Seputih Surabaya, we learned that their biggest need was fertilizer for their crops, so we helped them buy fertilizer at a lower cost and plant cacao. This strengthened their trust in the RPUs,and they began to provide useful information about the poaching suspects we had identified.   The farmers made it possibe for us to meet with the suspects and interview them. As a result, a number of former suspects have become reliable informants and have helped warn us of illegal activities before they actually take place.  The prevention program is working well.  Last year, the number of illegal activities in Way Kambas National Park was less than the year before.

Translated and edited by Inov

The Rhinos are Back … After More Than a Decade!

By Boston Kaloko

The Way Kanan river area of Way Kambas National Park provides good habitat for Sumatran rhinos.  It was about 11 years ago, when one of the Rhino Protection Units (RPUs) first took a photo of a Sumatran rhino wallowing in the Way Kanan. That was when we were still using pocket cameras with negative film, so the picture was not very good. A few years earlier, in 1999, we found foot prints of a baby rhino and its mother at the same location, so we were pleased that the rhino population was doing well.

However, in 2000 many local people began moving into the area.  They began planting cassava, hunting, trapping and fishing, and the rhinos started moving away.  Slowly, year by year, human encroachment grew and we didn’t find any more signs of Sumatran rhinos, not even a foot print or a scratch on a tree.  According to our database, signs of rhinos diappeared from the Way Kanan area and the animals moved away to the central part of the national park.

It wasn’t until 2010 that we were able to take action. The RPUs worked with the national park staff, the police department and the army to remove all encroachment from the park. The operation took one full month, but we cleared 3,500 hectares of all illegal activities.  This is a difficult thing to accomplish in Indonesia, so we were very proud of our success.

Since the successful removal of illegal campsand activities,the RPUs and national park staff have carefully monitored the area. In January 2012, about a year-and-a-half later, we found permanent wallows, feeding signs and scratches on trees – all signs that the rhinos were returning. We were surprised and very, very happy. After being gone from Way Kanan for 11 years, the rhinos were back.  And we continue to find their signs when we patrol that area.  In our opinion, the rhinos are paying us back for protecting them.

Translated and edited by Inov

“R” is for Rhinos: Widodo Ramono

“R” is for Rhinos, and also for …. Widodo Ramono.

Few people have dedicated more years to the study and conservation of Asian rhinos than Indonesian biologist Widodo Ramono. Born on April 4, 1945 in the Central Javan city of Blora, Widodo today serves as the executive director of Yayasan Badak Indonesia (YABI), the Rhino Foundation of Indonesia. Located in Bogor, YABI is the International Rhino Foundation’s principal partner in programs that are helping to ensure the survival of both Sumatran and Javan rhinos.

Widodo is married with three grown children. He looks remarkable young for someone approaching seventy years of age and credits his general well being to a healthy diet and working outdoors. When not at YABI’s headquarters in Bogor, Widodo spends most of his time at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary or inspecting the work of Rhino Protection Units (RPUs) at Bukit Barisan Selatan, Way Kambas and Ujung Kulon National Parks. He also receives invitations from government authorities and international organizations to speak about rhino conservation efforts in Indonesia, where the final strongholds for the two rarest and most critically endangered species are found.

Following his elementary and secondary school education in Blora, Widodo studied nature conservation at the Senior High School of Forestry in Bogor and later traveled internationally to receive technical training in forestry operations, national park administration, wildlife management, environmental impact assessment, conservation biology and public sector leadership. Since 1969, he has held a variety of civil servant positions in wildlife conservation, notable among them being the head of Nature Protection and Conservation of Ujung Kulon National Park, which now holds the world’s last known population of Javan rhinos – perhaps 40 to 50 individuals. Widodo’s lengthy career has also included the management of Asian elephant populations in southern Sumatra, and development of three Indonesian national parks (Bukit Barisan Selatan, Kerinci Seblat and Way Kambas). After completing his study on State Administration in Lampung, he was appointed forestry operations management chief in Aceh Province. And, as the former Director of Biodiversity Conservation for the Ministry of Forestry, he played a major role in establishing management practices for his country’s national parks, nature and game reserves, recreation forests, and wetlands.Widodo worked for The Nature Conservancy – Indonesia Programs after completing his work with for the Government of Indonesia.

Last June, no one was more gratified than Widodo at the birth of Andatu, the first Sumatran rhino ever born in captivity in Indonesia. The birth took place at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, which Widodo supervises with support from the International Rhino Foundation. However, his celebration regarding this historic birth is tempered by the continued threats that face Indonesia’s remaining rhinos, which means that Widodo Ramono’s job is not yet done.

Seeking the Elusive Badak Jawa: Stories in the Sand

Bill Konstant
Program Officer

Day #2 in our search for Javan rhinos begins with the sound of surf crashing on the southern shore of the Ujung Kulon peninsula.  The beaches are deserted in both directions for as far as the eye can see, but tracks in the sand tell us what creatures – great and small – used this barren coastal highway in the wee morning hours.

Southern shoreline of the Ujung Kulon Peninsula

The easiest trails to follow are those left by water monitors, lizards that are scaled-down versions of the giant Komodo dragon.  Equally prominent are tracks left by small felids – perhaps fishing cats or leopard cats – and the native wild dog, known as the dhole.  We also find leopard spoor, which I’m glad I didn’t see last night before hitting the sack.  Since the Javan tiger went extinct, which biologists believe happened in the 1970s, the leopard is Ujung Kulon’s largest and most dangerous predator.  Fortunately, leopards don’t particularly like to interact with people, so we shouldn’t worry too much about them prowling around our campsite at night.

Water monitor tracks

Water monitor lizard

Dhole tracks

Leopard spoor

The most interesting track we stumble across on the beach looks like it was left by an all-terrain vehicle that emerged from the sea and then made a U-turn back into the surf.  Judging by its size, it was made by a leatherback sea turtle – the largest of the world’s sea turtles – which apparently hauled itself ashore in pursuit of jellyfish, one of its favorite foods.

Leatherback sea turtle tracks

Jellyfish – leatherback sea turtle food

A glance down the beach now reveals a small group of people hiking toward the distant, fog-shrouded hills.  They must have emerged from the forest a few hundred yards back.  Their destination is a sacred cave, where they’ll probably spend a few hours in worship.  Their journey may have started in Taman Jaya, just like ours, but while we sailed around the peninsula for three hours, they’ve been walking for a day or more at this point.  They’ll also have to make camp again tonight on their way back.

En route to worship

What we don’t see along the beach, unfortunately, are any rhino tracks.  While these secretive creatures probably do approach the shore, it’s doubtful that they wander very far from the forest cover and out into the open.  We’ll just have to follow their trails inland if we hope to observe a Javan rhino in the flesh.

To be continued ….

This month, in honor of the dedicated fathers and men among us, we are featuring stories of the hard-working members of the Rhino Protection Units in Bukit Barisan Selatan, Ujong Kulon and Way Kambas National Parks. Meet Aris:

Me, Rhinos and My Family
By Aris Hendriyanto RPU Way Kambas National Park

My name is Aris Hendriyanto.  I have been working as an RPU member since 2005.  Compared with other members of the RPU I am still junior.  Most of them have been with the RPU since 1998 or 2000.  I am still learning to be a ‘true’ RPU member like my seniors in the RPU.  When I joined the RPU, I had just married.  I felt so lucky!  I got a wife and also a job!   

Before joining the RPU, I was a member of a Tiger Patrol Unit (TPU). The RPU chose me out of more than 20 people at the time. Only 3 people from TPU could be an RPU member.  I knew that it would take much hard work to be an RPU member.  I was proud to become a member of the RPU and I served 3 months probation before becoming a full member.

One year later, my baby girl was born!  It was an amazing moment but also hard for me.  As RPU staff I had to leave them to patrol at least 15 days per month and also sometimes with high risk because of contact I may have with poachers.  Before the baby, my wife never complained or asked about my work, but after we had the baby she became a bit worried with my job.  I tried to explain to her and also to the rest of my big family.  I learned this from my seniors at the RPU because they said this is normal and they had been through the same thing.

I said to my wife and my family that I work for them and for our life and I enjoy my work and am proud to be an RPU member.  I said that I work with a good team with lots of experience and safe strategies for dealing with poachers.

Step by step, year by year I get through life and work with support from them and my RPU.  I try to make my time with family quality time.  I have to try to balance time between my job and my family.  I learn much from my seniors at the RPU.  They have been through the same things as RPU members.  Together at the RPU we try to be the front line for survival of the Sumatran rhino and also the front line for our family. We cannot do this alone.  We need support from many people and particularly from our donors….

Arresting Tiger Poachers

By Ujang Suryadi

Intelligence and Law Enforcement Unit, Rhino Protection Unit Program Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia

We know that rhinos are a key species and protecting rhinos and their habitat is our main task.  That means we also protect tigers,

Poaching suspects arrested

elephants, and other species. Patrolling and monitoring is our main job, but developing and maintaining relationships with the community and local people surrounding the national park is also another key to success in our program. They will help keep us informed about illegal activity in BBS NP and poaching activity as well.  We always try to maintain a good relationship with them because they supply most of our information. 

Recently, on 22 October 2010, according to information from our local informant, there was a tiger poached in BBS NP by a poaching gang.  Based on our investigation, we were able to identify the suspects and learned their location. Collaborating with the National Park and police, we developed a plan for how to arrest the suspects. The plan was that we would pretend we wanted to buy the tiger skin. One of the RPU members would be an undercover buyer, and the others would handle the arrest when the suspect showed our buyer the tiger skin.

Four hours before the transaction, the suspect and their group cancelled the meeting and they wanted to us to make a new me

Tiger skin confiscated from poaching gang in BBS NP

eting. We agreed and made a new meeting at a new location. The next day at 1:00 AM, we were waiting at the location like they instructed.  We made a deal among all our team members that we would start to arrest the suspects after they showed the tiger skin.  All of us were in position before the suspect came.  I saw the suspect coming with his group of about 4 people. The location where the meeting was taking place was near a big village and there were a lot of people living there. We knew we needed to make this operation smooth and quick. We didn’t want to disturb the local people so early morning in the morning.

After the suspect showed us the tiger skin, all teams (RPU, forest guards and police) arrested the suspect and the group.  There was a lot of fighting between our team and the suspects, and they tried to run away, but we successful in catching all of them. We collected all the evidence such as the tiger skin and teeth, and elephant tusk, as well. We also collected 3 guns, 7 bullets, and a knife. It looked like they were professional poachers and had been successful in killing many animals, for a long time. After we finished collecting all the evidence, taking photographs, and inputting all the data that we needed, we moved from that location to the police department.  We could not take a rest at the police office because we had to make a report and list all the evidence step-by-step.  It was very tiring, we stayed for 2 days at the police office and after finishing all the steps, we were able to go back to the RPU camp. Hopefully in the future there will be no more poachers at the BBS NP and all animals can live without the threat of being poached.

A Day in the Life of an RPU Member

By Romiyanto, Rhino Protection Unit, Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia

Translated by Sectionov

Today our duty is to survey and monitor rhino habitat in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (BBSNP). As usual, after packing and checking all our stuff and logistics, the others and I start to go to the field.  Our destination at this time is West Lampung.  One of our RPU vehicles dropped us off at the location near a forest that we will enter.  Full of energy, we started walking, monitoring, and collecting all the data that we needed.  

The first two days of patrolling and monitoring went smoothly; we wondered when something would become a problem for us.  As usual, every night we move from one place to another place.  On our third day, we stayed in Mendati (one location in deep forest in the West Lampung area) — we could tell it was going to rain. Everywhere we looked, it was dark and windy. We continued to walk because we hadn’t reached our destination. I still remember that around 5 PM, it was almost dark, but we needed to continue to walk to find our camp.  Suddenly, the rain came, but we had no time to stop because we were in open area and it was now dark.     

I felt cold, wet, and very tired and I think others also felt the same as I did.  I thought about stopping but we couldn’t, because there weren’t any good locations to make a camp.  We tried continuing our walk and kept our thinking positive. 

After one hour of walking, we finally reached the location that we usual make a camp at, but realized a big tree had fallen down in front of the camp.  We made another camp close to the area, and then noticed a group of wild elephants 5 meters away.  Suddenly, the elephants came after us and we all started running away, as far as we could. We even pushed through a huge bees’ nest getting away – and got lots of stings. We didn’t care; all that was on our minds was to get far away from that location. I heard how angry the elephants were.  

After making sure that we were far away from the location, we tried to calm down and step-by-step to make a simple camp to at least have somewhere to sleep that would cover us from the rain.  We didn’t have a chance to cook dinner, we were too tired.  Before sleeping we discussed what happened that day and tried to laugh, feeling hungry.  

Around 2 AM, we heard the sound of elephants near our camp again.  We didn’t know what we should do, so we prayed and tried to get ready to run, just in case the elephants came after us again.  No one went back to sleep; we were too concerned about paying attention to the sound of the elephants. Thank God, nothing happened that night and finally sunrise approached.  Slowly we moved out from the camp and saw the surroundings.  We saw a lot of elephant footprints!

After breakfast and all logistics were checked, we packed up and moved to another area to continue patrolling…… it’s my life!!!

Going Undercover to Arrest Elephant Poachers

By Arief Rubianto, Intelligence and Law Enforcement Unit, YABI

Translated by Inov

My name is Arief Rubianto, and after many years working in Rhino Protection Units, I now head our Intelligence and Law Enforcement Unit. My job is to lead investigations into illegal hunting and trading of endangered species in South Sumatra, like Sumatran rhinos, Sumatran elephants and Sumatran tigers, and to gather enough evidence to arrest and prosecute poachers and illegal traders.

One time, one of our RPUs received information about a group of local people willing to sell elephant ivory weighing more than 100 kg.  Our informant told us that the group living in SP6 Bengkunat village, in West Lampung. 

Elephant killed for its ivory

After gathering all the necessary information and preparing the proper police documents, I met with the RPU, the national park rangers, and police from Lampung Province to create a plan for catching the group and arresting the leader.  We decided that we needed to conduct an undercover operation in the village, pretending that we wanted to buy the elephant bones.  We agreed that one of the police would act as a “broker” and that I would act as the “boss” of the group that wanted to buy the bones.  After getting their phone number from informants, the “broker” arranged a meeting with the leader of the group, two days later, at 1:00 a.m. in Bandar Lampung.

As we had agreed, I went alone with the undercover police officer to the meeting.  We met with 6 people, including the leader the group.  I saw that each of them had a knife, dagger and sword on under their clothes.  This made me nervous and so I tried to delay making a deal to buy the ivory until I knew that all the units (RPU, rangers and police) would be in position and ready to make an arrest.  

After a half hour, the group brought many elephant bones to me, and they also said they could provide tusk and skin from Sumatran tiger later, if we wanted.  I took my time, pretending to check each bone one by one, waiting for our back up group to arrive.

Elephant ivory being sold by illegal traders

Finally, five minutes later, the rest of the unit (RPU, rangers and police) came into the house with their weapons drawn.  The sellers were surprised and panicked, and tried to run out of the house but they couldn’t because it was surrounded.  I told the RPU members to catch the man in front of me first, because he was the leader, but the lighting was very poor and they could not see him at first. While they were arresting other members of the group, the leader starting running out of the house. I tried to catch him and jumped on him, and he pulled a knife on me, but I was able to kick him first. I thanked god, because I knew that he would have tried to kill me.   

We were able to arrest all the members of the group, and with the evidence (the elephant bones they were trying to sell), we took them to the police to be processed. After that the case was out of our hands. The illegal traders were prosecuted, and they received 6 months in jail. I was disappointed with this sentence, but at least we were able to arrest them and they were punished – many other poachers still get away free.