Historical Account of Managing Overabundant Wild Asian Elephants in Myanmar by the Kheddah System of Capture: Philosophy, Principles and Practices

Abstract

When standard methods of human–elephant conflict mitigation are not successful, free-ranging wild elephants may continue to come into close contact with people. This results in more frequent and severe conflict, with consequences ranging from crop raiding to loss of human and elephant lives. Understandably, in such situations, local communities may want to be rid of entire herds of elephants. Historically, one of the strategies the Myanmar Government practiced to resolve human–elephant conflict was the capture of whole herds using the Kheddah system. This involved trapping the herd in a stockade, immediately followed by on-site post-capture taming. After taming, the captured elephants were utilized as logging elephants. Elephants worked in timber extraction, retired at age 55 years and were then cared for by the Government until they died. The capture of wild elephants by the Kheddah system was formally banned in Myanmar in 1985 but occasional, small-scale, captures were allowed until 2013 under the strict control of the Myanmar Government. These operations were aimed primarily at capturing elephants involved in human–elephant conflict, rather than to supplement the working elephant population. One of the last Kheddah operations, organized and managed by the author, was conducted in 1996 at the Taikkyi township of the Yangon Region, as a last resort to end human–elephant conflict in an emergency. While chemical immobilization was being used at this time, it was not logistically possible with the high numbers of elephants engaged in the conflict. This review aims to record the history of an activity that was an important element of Myanmar’s timber industry more than three decades ago. In this paper, the author presents a description of Kheddah not to endorse it, but to document (1) the Myanmar elephant population management strategy in the past, before it is forgotten, and (2) the practicality of the Kheddha operation when the singly selected commonly- used immobilization or noosing method of elephant capture is unfeasible. The author attempts to shed light on the modern veterinary procedures that may significantly reduce the notorious historical outcome of Kheddha, especially the resulting mortality of captured elephants, should the Kheddha system of capture ever be used as an emergency solution for ongoing problems of human–elephant conflict in the range states of Asia.