Poisoned for being Pests

I have not been posting recently as I have been spending a substantial amount of time in what used to be the tropical rain forests of Sumatra. The only thing that still remains descriptive about this area is that it rains - sometimes.

The devastating deforestation has driven animals from their habitiat into war zones, areas where conflict with humans is certain and here is what happened last week.

A family of elephants – among the rarest on Earth – wanders into a jungle clearing to eat the lush vegetation. It was their last meal.

The six Sumatran elephants, belonging to a breed down to its last 2000, were about to die a slow and painful death.

The leaves they were eating had been laced with potassium cyanide, a deadly poison.

The elephants, including a youngster, fell one by one, keeping close to each other in a family group. Six rotting corpses were victims of a conflict between Sumatra's growing human population and its dwindling numbers of pachyderms. On the only male in the group, a gaping wound had been left where its tusks had been ripped out.

The killers, not content merely to poison the graceful animals, had decided to profit by the sale of the ivory.

But elephants are mostly killed not by the loggers exploiting the forest's valuable hardwoods, or even by ivory poachers, but simply because they come into conflict with humans.

As Sumatra's population grows, unfortunate encounters with the animals become more common and farmers, fearful of their crops and even homes being trampled, poison the elephants as a form of pest control.

Sumatra, the second-largest island in the Indonesian archipelago, is home to one of the most diverse ecosystems. Towering forests used to hide tens of thousands of species, including a menagerie of exotic mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

These include orang-utans and the Sumatran tiger and all are in danger of dying out as their habitat is decimated, mostly by loggers. Truth is that the elephants are simply running out of space, Human-elephant conflict is a huge problem in this area as their forests are cut down and they become homeless, and then they raid people's crops.Angry farmers then coat palm fronds with pesticide or lay out poison bait.

The local authorities advertise the fact that they are against illegal logging, pro conservation and all the other "Green" policies that seem to be important in todays world, however, the fact of the matter is they just do not give a fuck!

If it does not come in a brown envelope, it remains a very low priority. The local perception is one of "we've seen it all before". Despite the 40 foot tall bill boards with the governer of Riau Province stating that "Ilegal Loggers will be prosecuted" it remains a fact that every minute an area the size of three football fields is being decimated.

Menwhile, the elephants are dying!