Sumatran elephant 'poisoned' in Indonesia palm plantation

INDONESIA:
A critically endangered elephant has been found dead in a palm oil plantation on Indonesia’s Sumatra island in what is suspected to be a deliberate poisoning, an official said on Friday.

The 10-year-old female Sumatran elephant was found in Jambo Reuhat village in North Aceh on Thursday the third of its species to be found dead of suspected poisoning in the same palm plantation since 2015.

“We found fruits and a pouch with traces of powder inside the animal,” Aceh conservation centre head Sapto Aji Prabowo said.

“We suspect the death was caused by deliberate poisoning because her liver and spleen turned dark, a classic sign of poison,” he added.


Killing of endangered Sumatran elephant sparks anger

A group of veterinarians was deployed to the location after authorities were tipped off by locals.

Officials estimated the animal had been dead for three days when the carcass was discovered.

Sumatran elephants are a critically endangered species. Rampant deforestation to create plantations has reduced their natural habitat and brought them into conflict with humans.

At least 11 wild elephants died in Aceh last year, most of them killed by humans.

Earlier in June a tame Sumatran elephant was found dead from apparent poisoning in East Aceh district with its tusks missing.


Officials found the remains of fruits laced with poison inside the animal during the autopsy.

The environment ministry estimates only around 500 Sumatran elephant remain in Aceh.


Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1757292/3-sumatran-elephant-poisoned-indonesia-palm-plantation/

Sumatran elephant 'poisoned' in Indonesia palm plantation

BANDA ACEH: A critically endangered elephant has been found dead in a palm oil plantation on Indonesia's Sumatra island in what is suspected to be a deliberate poisoning, an official said Friday (Jul 13).

The 10-year-old female Sumatran elephant was found in Jambo Reuhat village in North Aceh on Thursday - the third of its species to be found dead of suspected poisoning in the same palm plantation since 2015.


"We found fruits and a pouch with traces of powder inside the animal," Aceh conservation centre head Sapto Aji Prabowo told AFP.

"We suspect the death was caused by deliberate poisoning because her liver and spleen turned dark, a classic sign of poison," he added.

A group of veterinarians was deployed to the location after authorities were tipped off by locals.

Officials estimated the animal had been dead for three days when the carcass was discovered.


Sumatran elephants are a critically endangered species. Rampant deforestation to create plantations has reduced their natural habitat and brought them into conflict with humans.

At least 11 wild elephants died in Aceh last year, most of them killed by humans.

Earlier in June a tame Sumatran elephant was found dead from apparent poisoning in East Aceh district with its tusks missing.

Officials found the remains of fruits laced with poison inside the animal during the autopsy.

The environment ministry estimates only around 500 Sumatran elephant remain in Aceh.


Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/sumatran-elephant--poisoned--in-indonesia-palm-plantation-10529068

The plight of the palm oil elephants

There are precious few elephants left in Borneo, and the population gets smaller every year.

Forests where they live are being slashed to make way for palm oil plantations, making it more and more difficult for elephants and farmers to thrive together in close quarters.

Photojournalist Aaron 'Bertie' Gekoski has been documenting the situation in southeast Asia.
A species in decline

It is thought that Borneo's elephants are a subspecies of the endangered Asian elephant (Elephus maximus), although scientists have yet to classify them as such.

According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Asian elephant populations have dwindled by 50% over the last three generations, as their habitats are shrinking and fragmenting.

Adult elephants can spend up to 19 hours a day feeding, and they roam for hundreds of kilometres through grassland, forests and scrubland. Their size means they need large areas of land to live comfortably - but their forest homes are being encroached upon by human homes, plantations and farms.

This pressure to find space has led to more and more conflicts between humans and elephants when elephants eat or trample crops. It's a particularly large problem in Indonesia and Malaysia, where huge areas of forests have been lost to palm oil plantations.

The plight of the elephants is perfectly captured in the image above, Palm-oil survivors, by environmental photojournalist Aaron Gekoski. It is in the current Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.

Taken on a cleared palm oil plantation in Borneo, in the Malaysian state of Sabah, three generations of elephants are dwarfed by a scene of devastation around them.

With the light fading fast he quickly shot the four majestic mammals, reflecting on how they are 'dwarfed by a desolate and desecrated landscape'.




To read the full article, click on the story title.