Environment

Two Rare elephants shot dead in Indonesia

by Amy Judd | March 31, 2009 at 03:29 pm

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Two rare Sumatran elephants were killed by single shots to the head and discovered near their rangers' camp near Kerinci National Park in Indonesia.

They were used to patrol protected forests but it is thought that whoever shot them were professional poachers as the elephants were ridden by park rangers to look for illegal loggers and poachers.

Illegal loggers have been trying to clear this area at an accelerated rate to make plantations for oil palm and for using the wood to make furniture for international markets.

Basrul said the Sumatran elephants — believed to number at less than 3,000 in the wild — were both 20-year-old females. They were apparently killed early last week after patrolling the park on Sumatra island as rangers were sleeping.

Rangers found their bodies last Tuesday morning, several hundred yards from camp.

"It is a big blow to our efforts to protect these endangered animals," Basrul said.

The park has about 20 of these endangered elephants, 4 of which were used for patrols.

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Swan

at 20:45 on March 31st, 2009

Hello Amy,

Thank you for this terribly sad article. Since it wasn't mentioned in the article, I'm guessing the poachers weren't harvesting their ivory tusks, so there must be other reasons.

Perhaps they were poaching for other protected animals (trophy hunters) and wanted to make sure that the ranger's transport was out of commission.

Whatever the reasons, it's probably the saddest story I've read today.
~ Swan