Indonesia: Sumatra elephants' habitat continues to shrink: NGO

Bengkulu (ANTARA News) - The habitat of Sumatra elephants (Elephas Maximus Sumatranus), which continues to shrink, has sparked more conflict between the endangered species and humans, an NGO working in the field of nature conservation has said.

"Conflict (with humans) has occurred more often because the habitat of the elephants has continued to shrink. In the latest incident, wild elephants roaming the Gajah Makmur village led to a feeling of restlessness among the villagers," the program coordinator of the Nature Conservation Alliance (Akar) Network, Ali Akbar, said here on Friday.

An investigation conducted by the Akar Network found that the corridor that is the elephants roaming track in the Seblat Nature Tourism Park has increasingly shrunk due to changing patterns of land use.

The cultivation rights awarded to some plantations and illegal land clearing have led to a situation where elephants feel annoyed in their own habitat.

"The wild elephants entering the village came from Seblat Park, having passed through the oil palm plantation of PT Alno to HPT Air Rami, but then found themselves trapped in Air Rami," he explained.

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