15 Rare Elephants Killed In Indonesia For Ivory

AP: JAKARTA, Indonesia -- At least 15 endangered Sumatran elephants have been shot or poisoned to death with cyanide-laced fruit this year, marking a sharp rise in the rate of killing from 2008, a government conservationist said Wednesday.

The giant mammals were mostly killed by poachers for their ivory, said Tony Suhartono, the director of biodiversity conservation at the Forest Ministry.

The number killed in the past six months is equal to the total for the whole of 2008, he said.

"It is shocking," said Syamsidar, a campaigner with the World Wildlife Fund in the western island of Sumatra.

The killing is the result of a "conflict between humans and elephants," said Syamsidar, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name. "The forest is in critical condition due to the illegal logging, slash-and-burn farming practices and plantations."

Indonesia's endangered elephants, tigers, rhinos and orangutans are increasingly threatened by their shrinking habitat in the jungle, which is commonly cleared for commercial farming or felled for lumber. Only 3,000 Sumatran elephants are believed to remain in the wild.

They sometimes venture into inhabited areas searching for food and destroy crops or attack humans, making them unpopular with locals.

Comments

[StopGlobalWarmingBeVegan]

03:40 AM on 06/29/2009

They also poisoned these peaceful creatures, urrgghh.. Be Veg.

[jweider]

11:49 AM on 06/28/2009

And yet it's illegal to kill Indonesians for their body parts. Go figure!

[RightWingMarine]

04:33 PM on 06/26/2009

the best way to reduce poaching is to make the elephants, or other endangered animal, property. If no one owns the elephants then no one is going to make much of an effort to protect them or care for their health and as it says in the article the elephants become unpopular with the locals. However if the village or a family own the elephants those owners have an absolute interest in the welfare of those elephants. When no one owns the elephants then the incentive is to kill as many as possible to get the ivory before someone else does. When the elephant is owned the incentive is to harvest an elephant only when there is another to replace it.

[PWM]

11:09 AM on 06/26/2009

Such acts are crimes against humanity by denying future generations the chance to see these wonderful creatures.

[cucumber]

02:51 PM on 06/26/2009

It' s not a "crime against humanity" because WE will be denied the sight of something/someone. It's a crime against those animals. It's not all about us.

[mamacat]

06:07 AM on 06/26/2009

This is horrible. Do we humans really have much of a chance of avoiding causing our own extinction, when we routinely do such evil deeds?

[dandypuddin]

01:05 AM on 06/26/2009

So horribly sad. Beautiful, rare creatures killed for ivory so man can sell crappy ivory trinkets. What is wrong with man and just how did we end up at the top of the food chain with our inferior heart?

[Virgil Kane]

10:37 PM on 06/25/2009

This is terrible. I hope these poachers are brought to justice.

[bluestate69]

08:26 PM on 06/25/2009

Ivory hunters/elephant killers-

Humans are to rare elephants as H1N1, Avian flu, SARS (and many others to follow) is to humans. Karma - have a bowl today- / its good for you.

[DrJohnnySkeptic]

04:21 PM on 06/25/2009

That is sickening and heartbreaking.

Why can't all people treat everyone the way they want to be treated?

[mikefina]

07:56 PM on 06/25/2009

I try to, but they tell me to keep my hands to myself.

[grandma58]

04:17 PM on 06/25/2009

Far less attention then palin, is it just me or is there something wrong with that?

[doodlebug2]

08:13 PM on 06/25/2009

That is true and always the case, plus the dipshits like vie2012ne's comment

[vie2012ne]

04:17 PM on 06/25/2009

Bush's fault, or a result of global warming.

[TigersEye]

04:07 PM on 06/25/2009

This kind of "news" infuriates me. I hope that there is justice for these idiots.

[SamKnause]

02:18 PM on 06/25/2009

There is no comment that can cover had sad, sick, and twisted this horrible act is.

[TJCole]

02:03 PM on 06/25/2009

Son of a Beeatch...!

We are a savage failed species, we deserve whatever is coming never doubt that...!

[SamKnause]

02:21 PM on 06/25/2009

I don't think the majority of us do, but there are many bad apples that will get their just rewards. Karma will kick them in the butt somewhere down the line. It makes me feel better to believe this, with all the cruelty and lawlessness in the world.

[yannb]

01:48 PM on 06/25/2009

Well, when there's none left, they'll cry that nobody told them. Let them eat their white bread to the last crumb. And then let them starve with their mouth open.