In Indonesia, in last few years it’s come to public notice that the Elephants of Sumatra have been abused, tortured and murdered almost as a daily practice either by farmers or by poachers. The prime areas where Elephant slaughtering is taking place is in areas of East Aceh. Aceh Jaya and Riau.
The farmers use the barbaric practice of putting poison on soap bars and sticking them to tree branches, knowing Elephants like to eat them. The reason the farmers give for killing these elegant and innocent beings is because they believe that the Elephants destroy their crops. The Elephants are not at fault here as humans are entering into their habitats going further into their lands for their farming needs of scale rubber, timber, paper pulp and palm oil plantations. It is understandable that humans fear Elephants as they are large and wild, but killing them is not the answer.
Elephants have served humans for centuries, helping them with their manual labor as slaves, being forced into entertaining humans in circuses, in horrible conditions, being used as a traditional mascots in human religious affairs, getting decorated and put up for displays and rides. If that’s also not enough they are being targeted by poachers every single day for their tusks, sometimes killed and left to die miserably and in pain after their tusks are removed.
The WWF Indonesia reports that the killings of Elephants in Sumatra have been on a rise since 2004 and also shockingly since 2004 no one has been jailed or even convicted in the Riau province. Most of the Elephants are either poisoned or shot and the numbers are highest in the Aceh province. Poachers are killing the Elephants around the paper plantations and timber areas. The group study shows a shocking revelation of 59% of Elephants were killed by poisoning, 13% showed signs of poisoning, 5% were shot and the reason for the deaths of the other Elephants is still not clarified, they could be considered illness or unknown causes.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed the Elephants of Sumatra as critically endangered. As the numbers have dropped down from 5000 in 1985 to just 2,400 to 2,800 in this year. If they are not protected, they are most likely to go extinct within a few decades. However, considering the rate at which they are been killed and abused, it won’t take decades but just a few years before this beautiful Animal goes extinct.