‘SHE’S DEAD’: Conservationist shares on loss and friendship forged with elephant Diana

Farina Othman: You don't forget those who have gone, but you fold them, and their loss, into the new person you become. Two years ago, I couldn't fathom a world without Diana, my friend, in it. Now, I can't imagine a world without elephants.

ELENA KOSHY: “She’s dead,” she says simply before lapsing into silence, eyes glistening. It’s been a tough week for Dr Nurzhafarina Othman. The elephant specialist had just received news that her elephant, whom she’d been observing for over a year, had been found dead in a plantation in Kinabatangan, presumably of suspected poisoning. It’s the same elephant she named “Diana” in honour of her friend, Dr Diana Angeles Ramirez Salvidar, who passed away suddenly two years ago. “How do you cope with this sense of loss… again?” she asks bleakly…

Back in 2013, Farina and Ramirez, a veterinarian from the Wildlife Rescue Unit (WRU) led a team of wildlife rangers to fix satellite collars on five elephants over a span of five days. Satellite collars are a tried-and-tested tool for wildlife monitoring that allow scientists to monitor, in real time, when and where individual animals are moving across the landscape…

And though the collaring process is both labour-intensive and expensive, the effort is worth the payoff. By revealing whether an elephant is active, stationary, or injured, the collars enable rangers to respond more quickly and effectively to poaching incidents and human-elephant conflicts. “We were ecstatic. Collaring five elephants was a personal record for me and we were bragging about this endlessly!” she wrote…

Last June, Farina led another collaring team into the wilds of Kinabatangan in search of a lactating female elephant as mothers are usually more sensitive to the changes in the environment. After hours of tracking elephants in the humid morning, the team found the animal they’d been seeking — a 1.63-metre tall matriarch with a 2-year-old female calf. The collaring process was well-rehearsed, and everyone knew their role…

“They were so feisty,” she recalls wistfully, adding: “They reminded me of my late friend Diana. She fought many battles for the well-being of wildlife and captive animals in Sabah. I knew immediately that I would call the collared mother, ‘Diana’ in honour of her”… It’s hard to talk about Diana. The sadness is palpable but Farina is determined to give this female matriarch a voice. “We’d been observing Diana for a while,” she begins, softly.

Since the elephant was collared, Diana was usually safely ensconced within the forested area because she’s especially protective of her young. Mothers, like Diana, would normally avoid disturbed areas as the safety of the calf is especially important to her.

On the days leading to Diana’s death, she was observed to have crossed several small tributaries before moving downriver towards a village. When she spent a bit of time loitering in a forested area near the village, Farina wasn’t too worried as it was safer for Diana to remain there as the area is much quieter than other parts of Kinabatangan…

When she started heading towards the plantations, Farina began to feel a little bit excited and worried. “I was excited because none of the collared elephants had ever reached that part of Kinabatangan. This information strengthened our knowledge about elephant movement strategy in Kinabatangan,” she says.

It was worrying, however, because the area she was at was located far from their field station. “It was a little hard for us to monitor her as our field work had halted due to the current pandemic,” she admits. The elephant and her calf were lingering around the same area, which was quite close to a human settlement. It was unusual behaviour, and the researchers were worried but hoping for the best…

On November 22, Farina received news that every elephant conservationist wouldn’t want to hear. Three plantation workers had stumbled upon the carcass of the 20-year-old elephant around 5.20pm. The elephant was believed to have died less than 24 hours before it was found, as the carcass hadn’t rotted and there was no stench yet. Her calf was nowhere to be found.

She was devastated. “I remember having questions running through my mind the whole day. What if I’d acted faster? What if I’d decided to monitor her the day she died? Would she be alive now?” she asks, crestfallen. “I felt I was losing a friend all over again”…

n 2018, Farina founded Seratu Aatai, which means Bersatu Hati (united) in Orang Sungai lingo. Orang Sungai is the tribe that lives in Kinabatangan, and Farina was determined to engage the local tribes and communities to join in the efforts of protecting elephants.

Seratu Aatai aims to promote co-existence between people and elephants through research and education in Sabah. With elephant ranges expanding and human populations growing and requiring more land for agriculture every year, she says that finding effective ways to deal with human-elephant conflict has never been more important.

She pauses, before continuing: “I hate to use the word ‘conflict’ as it implies an active antagonism between the two species, and that’s simply not the case. I prefer using the term ‘elephant visitations'”… The tenuous relationship between people and elephants will continue, with both sides constantly learning and innovating. It’s a relationship that will be defined by improvisation by both humans and elephants…

We need thousands of different solutions all over the world, continuously changing and evolving. Until then, conflicts and issues may still arise with elephants like Diana perishing on the frontlines. “Diana’s death isn’t in vain,” she insists firmly. Eyes glistening again, Farina concludes impassionedly: “People often say that elephants like her belong to the government, or that they belong to the non-governmental organisations or scientists. No one says that elephants belong to all of us. Our wildlife, our heritage. We have to be united if we want to keep our elephants alive in Sabah.”

Legacies are meant to live on. From a spirited female elephant to a woman who spent her life protecting wildlife, these ‘Dianas’ have left an indelible imprint on the elephant conservationist’s heart. Concludes Farina softly: “You don’t forget those who have gone; you can never do that, and you shouldn’t worry that you’re going to. But you fold them, and their loss, into the new person you become; and maybe that, in the end, is the greatest tribute any of us can give anyone who has died. Two years ago, I couldn’t fathom a world without Diana, my friend, in it. Now, I can’t imagine a world without elephants”.  SOURCE…

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