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Elephant population in Sumatra shrinks drastically
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An elephant handler feeds a male elephant named Panamtu that lives in the Gajah Mungkur Reservoir Zoo in Wonogiri, Central Java. (thejakartapost.com/Ganug Nugroho Adi)
T
he population of Sumatran elephants has plummeted in the past nine years mainly due to the conversion of forest areas into plantations and settlements, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia has announced.
According to WWF data, the population of the critically endangered species drastically shrunk to around 1,700 currently from about 2,700 elephants in 2007.
Sunarto from WWF Indonesia said the Sumatran landscape changed quickly. The areas that were initially declared as conservation areas were in fact converted into plantations, forcing the largest land mammals to enter villages and the farmland, he explained.
“Even the Balai Raja wildlife reserve [in Riau] is planted with palm oil. The size of the conservation area is now only around 150 hectares, from the total area of 18,000 hectares,” he said in Jakarta on Thursday.
Sunarto added that many of the elephants entering villages were poisoned because they were considered parasites that destroyed farmland. To make matters worse, the elephants were often threatened by poaching.
He, therefore, called on all elements of society to intensify efforts to protect the elephants and their habitats. “Their existing habitats need to be preserved,” Sunarto said. (vny/ags)
