The body of
a rare Sumatran elephant lies on road along a palm oil
plantation in Aceh Jaya
in Aceh province (AFP/File, Chaideer Mahyuddin)
|
ACEH JAYA,
Indonesia — Environmental organisation WWF called on the government Wednesday
to investigate the death of a critically endangered Sumatran elephant allegedly
poisoned at an Indonesian oil palm plantation.
A ranger at
the plantation in Aceh Jaya on Sumatra island said he found the 18-year-old
female elephant dying on Monday and that locals reported they had seen it
walking around with a calf earlier that day.
"We
call on the authorities to investigate how the elephant died. If she died from
poisoning, we hope authorities will do something about educating locals,"
WWF's Aceh programme leader Dede Suhendra told AFP.
"People
here in Sumatra who own plantations and farms often kill elephants, tigers too,
because they see them as pests."
Mukhtar,
the ranger, said he believed the elephant had been poisoned.
"When
I found her, she was foaming at the mouth and bleeding from the rectum, which
are strong signs of poisoning," he said, adding that he was unable to save
her with medicine.
Mukhtar
said the elephant's calf was "crying" and "making noises"
of distress as it stood by its mother dying on the ground.
Suhendra
said that conflict between animals in the jungle and humans had increased in
the past decade as swathes of forest are cleared for agriculture.
WWF changed
the Sumatran elephant's status from "endangered" to "critically
endangered" in January, largely due to severe habitat loss driven by oil
palm and paper plantations.
There are
less than 3,000 Sumatran elephants remaining in the wild, according to the
International Union for Conservation of Nature, marking a 50 percent drop in
numbers since 1985.
Related Articles:
WWF Indonesia Calls For Probe Into Elephant Death
Spain's King Juan Carlos under fire over elephant hunting trip
WWF Indonesia Calls For Probe Into Elephant Death
Spain's King Juan Carlos under fire over elephant hunting trip
No comments:
Post a Comment