By Ainur Rohmah
JAKARTA
The discovery of the bodies of two endangered Sumatran elephants, apparent victims of poachers, has highlighted the threat faced by the breed.
The remains were found in palm oil plantations in Jambi province’s Tebo district on the island of Sumatra earlier this week.
The animals’ tusks had been taken and investigators found bullet casings at the scene, the Rakyat Post reported Friday.
Local resident Sugi, who like many Indonesians uses one name, said a herd of around 30 elephants had been seen in the area recently.
Krismanko Padang, head of the Indonesia Elephant Conservation Forum, said elephants’ loss of habitat increased the risk of conflict with humans.
Forest fires, illegal logging and the spread of plantations has seen the natural habitat of elephants in Jambi shrink by 80 percent over the past five years, he said.
“This condition makes the human-elephant conflict increasingly common and ivory hunters take advantage of this situation," he added.
World Wild Fund Conservation Director in Indonesia Arnold Sitompul urged the Indonesian government to give serious attention to the plight of the Sumatran elephant.
In 2000 it was estimated that between 2,400 and 2,800 of the elephants, a subspecies of the Asian elephant, remained, down from 5,000 in 1985. Environmentalists have warned the breed faces extinction within 30 years.
"It is time to government to issue standby level one for the Sumatran elephant's death,” Sitompul said.
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