AFP/File – A Sumatran elephant
(Elephant maximus Sumatranus) with her one day old baby at
Taman Safari in Bogor.
Thu Jul 2, 12.15 pm ET
JAKARTA (AFP) – An elephant calf has
starved to death in Indonesia, the eighth
endangered Sumatran elephant to have died in the wild since May,
environmental group WWF said Thursday.
WWF spokeswoman Syamsidar said the calf was believed to be the
offspring of an elephant which was poisoned to death recently in
the latest sign of growing conflict between animals and people over
land and forest resources.
"A young male elephant died on Wednesday. We suspect it was the
offspring of the elephant who recently died because of poisoning,"
she said.
"It was about two years old and still needed its mother's milk."
The calf was found dead in Sumatra island's Lazuardi forest,
Riau province, near a forest concession area owned by a company
called Rimba Peranap Indah.
Five of the eight elephants have died near or inside the
concession area. Three were killed for their tusks and four were
poisoned after eating palm oil plants doused
in toxic chemicals.
"Some people are trying to protect their palm oil
crops in the area by pouring insecticides on the plants.
Maybe it's not intentional but it has killed a few elephants,"
Syamsidar said.
Conflicts between wild animals and humans
are on the rise on Sumatra, where legal and illegal logging is
rapidly reducing the tropical jungle.
There are about 2,400 to 2,800 Sumatran
elephants in Indonesia, of which 200 to 250 are in Riau,
according to WWF.
