“I never thought a first-aid course could be so complex,” explains elephant scout Maskun, adding, “For our daily work with elephants, it is absolutely vital to know that we can provide each other with skilled assistance in emergencies.”

From 13–15 March, ASM, trained 36 conservation scouts in first aid at the scene of an accident at the Elephant Information and Conservation Centre of the Jambi Nature Conservation Agency (BKSDA) in Muara Sekalo. 

‘This training is hugely important for improving the safety of our staff whilst they are working in the field, as we will begin fitting elephants with GPS collars in May to make our early warning system for human-elephant-conflicts fully operational,’ explained Hilal Fikriansyah, coordinator of the Frankfurt Zoological Society’s elephant scout teams. 

Whilst the first two days of training were devoted to treating accident injuries, resuscitation and providing first aid for snake bites, the final day presented a real challenge: participants had to locate injured individuals in the field using coordinates, administer first aid and then coordinate their evacuation to a collection point using improvised stretchers. At the end of the training, all participants agreed that this training was extremely valuable for improving workplace safety.