Erni Suyanti Musabine Rescuer of Protected Wildlife

Starting from a documentary, Erni Suyanti Musabine's love for wildlife is unstoppable. With his expertise as a veterinarian, he tries to save protected animals from extinction.

KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI

Erni Suyanti Musabine

Erni Suyanti Musabine, 46, was scrutinizing a diagram on anesthetics to review the dosage while holding hypodermic syringes. Then she filled darts with the drug for tranquilizing Meilani, 40, and Meisi, 30, two Sumatran elephants that lived in Air Sugihan district, Ogan Komering Ilir regency, South Sumatra.

Along with Nazaruddin, a mahout from Way Kambas National Park, Lampung, Erni Suyanti Musabine was on a mission with the South Sumatra Natural Resources Conservation Center to put global positioning system (GPS) collars around the necks of wild Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) on Friday (13/5/2022). Erni was in charge of measuring the anesthetic before Nazaruddin shot the elephants with a tranquilizer gun. The GPS collars were intended to monitor the wild elephants’ movement to minimize the risk of conflict with humans.