Another male elephant, Genk, was found dead in Aceh Jaya last year. His poachers are currently on trial.” Photo: Fakhrizan Mahyeddin

Punishment of elephant poachers is lax in Aceh. Genk’s case is the only one that has reached trial. Photo: Fakhrizan Mahyeddin

1. Another male elephant, Genk, was found dead in Aceh Jaya last year. His poachers are currently on trial.
2. Punishment of elephant poachers is lax in Aceh. Genk’s case is the only one that has reached trial.
Photos by Fakhrizan Mahyeddin

Indonesia: Police apprehend elephant-killers in Sumatra
By Satria Eka Hadinaryanto, 1st May 2014;

Eleven people were arrested on April 16 by West Aceh police for allegedly killing a Sumatran Elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus), in a forest six kilometers away from Teupin Panah village, Kaway XVI, in the West Aceh district.

On April 5, accompanied by a local village official, West Aceh officials finally managed to reach the carcass of the 12-year-old male elephant. The elephant had been dead since April 1, but officials couldn’t get near the location as five other elephants were still guarding the area.

Police officials suspected that the elephant was intentionally killed by a trap and its tusks cut of by chainsaw.

The suspects – five from Ceumara village, one from Babah Lueng village, three from Seumantok village, and two from Teupin Panah village – confessed to killing two elephants in Pante Ceuremen forest and one elephant in Kaway XVI over the course of a year.

“[The suspects] felt threatened by elephants passing their gardens. In addition, one man was killed last year,” said Adj. Sr. Comr. Faisal Rivai, West Aceh police chief, on Wednesday (April 16).

In January, elephants killed one man and injured another in Meureubo sub-district, not far away from Kaway XVI sub-district. Yusmani, of the Ujung Tanoh Darat village, Meureubo sub-district, West Aceh, was killed after being trampled by elephant rampaging through the village. His son, Reverendi, sustained a leg injury from the attack.

Furthermore, Rivai said that they were targeting a bigger elephant in the hopes of getting larger tusks but killed the younger elephant instead.

The elephant that was killed was no stranger to local villagers. He was well-known in the area, often spotted roaming around the village with his herd, comprised of two adult males and three adult females. The area where the carcass was found is designated for human land use and dominated by oil palm plantation, but still has good forest cover.

The suspects allegedly sold the 1.5-kilogram tusk for Rp25 million ($2,158) to a broker.

“We are currently pursuing a broker from South Aceh. [We suspect that] the tusk may have already [been shipped] out of Aceh,” Rivai said.

Genman Suhefti Hasibuan, head of the Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency, locally known as BKSDA, said the killing might be connected to illegal trading. To prevent any more elephant killings, the agency is intensifying communications with local villagers.

There may be as many as 500 elephants left in Aceh, nearly one-fifth of the total Sumatran Elephant population. The IUCN estimates that the Sumatran Elephant population has declined more than 50 percent since 1985. During the same period, Sumatra lost nearly 70 percent of its lowland forest – the preferred habitat for elephants.

Poor forest and land management is the primary driver of human-elephant conflicts in Aceh province, which have been intensifying in recent years. Human activities, such as deforestation for plantation, housing, mining, and road developments, are shrinking the elephants’ territories, leading them to rampage through villages. In 2013, eight elephants and one person were killed. However the situation was much worse in 2012, when a total of 25 elephants were killed in Aceh alone. Of these, officials strongly suspect 14 were intentionally poisoned by people working at oil palm plantations as elephants are considered pests by plantation managers.

Hasibuan admitted that law enforcement has yet to implement an effective deterrent against these killings. Of all recorded cases of elephant poaching in the province, only one is being processed in court. That case involved the killing of a male elephant known locally as “Genk” in Sampoinet, in Aceh Jaya district, in July 2013. The 22-year-old was brutally killed, its face was destroyed, its trunk was cut off, and its tusks severed. The killing angered activists and made international headlines. Prompted by the outrage, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono instructed Zulkifli Hasan to capture the killers. Currently, the case is still on trial.

Source: Mongabay

File photo taken on July 14, 2013 shows a resident looking at the carcass of a male Sumatran Elephant in Aceh Jaya district on Indonesia’s Sumatra island (AFP/File, Fikri Ramadhavi)

Indonesia: Indonesian elephants found dead, poisoning suspected
AFP, 25th February 2014;

Seven Sumatran Elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) have been found dead in western Indonesia and it is thought they were poisoned, a wildlife official said Monday, just the latest deaths of the critically-endangered animals.

Dozens of the elephants have died after being poisoned in recent years on Sumatra island, as the creatures come into conflict with humans due to the rapid expansion of palm oil plantations which destroys their habitat.

The latest to die were a female adult, five male teenagers, and a male calf believed to be from the same herd, said local wildlife agency spokesman Muhammad Zanir.

The remains of the elephants were found on February 16 just outside Tesso Nilo National Park and it is thought they died five months earlier, he said.

“There is an indication that they were poisoned,” he said. “Some people may consider the elephants a threat to their palm oil plantations and poison them.”

While Sumatran Elephants are regularly found dead, it is rare to discover so many at the same time.

Swathes of rainforest have been destroyed in recent years to make way for plantations and villagers increasingly target Sumatran Elephants, which they regard as pests.

While most concessions for palm oil companies are granted outside Tesso Nilo, in Riau province in eastern Sumatra, many villagers still illegally set up plantations inside the park, said WWF spokeswoman Syamsidar, who goes by one name.

Poachers also sometimes target the animals – the smallest of the Asian elephants – for their ivory tusks, which are in high demand for use in traditional Chinese medicine.

The WWF says there are only between 2,400 and 2,800 Sumatran Elephants remaining in the wild and warns they face extinction in less than 30 years unless the destruction of their habitat is halted.

Rampant expansion of plantations and the mining industry has destroyed nearly 70 percent of the elephant’s forest habitat over 25 years, according to the WWF.

Protection group the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the elephants as “critically endangered”, one step below “extinct in the wild”.

Source: Google News (Mirror)