LEGAL ENFORCEMENT NEEDS TO BE INTENSIFIED TO PROTECT SUMATRAN ELEPHANTS by Fardah

     Jakarta, April 29, 2014 (Antara) - Conflicts between people and elephants continue to escalate in Sumatra and threaten the survival of the Sumatran elephants (Elephas Maximus Sumatranus), which have lost around 70 percent of their habitat over the past 25 years.

         As forests the elephant's habitat shrink, the giant animals are often forced to enter fields, cultivated land and human settlements causing conflicts with humans that often results in the death of the elephants by poisoning or capture. 
    NGO ProFauna cited data from forestry authorities that about 100 elephants and 42 people died during human-elephant conflicts (HECs) between 2002 and 2007.

         In addition, elephants are still being poached for their ivory, even though the killing of elephants can attract a punishment of up to five years in prison and a fine of 100 million rupiah in line with the Indonesia's existing law.

         In Aceh province, for instance, a young elephant was killed recently for its small ivory weighing only 1.5 kg and sold for just Rp1.5 million or around US$140.

         "The money they got from selling the ivory was not much. I cannot believe that young elephants were killed for such little money," chief of the West Aceh Police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Faisal Rivai said on April 15, 2014.

         The West Aceh police had arrested six out of 11 suspects in the killings of three Sumatran elephants. "There were six suspects who had been arrested in the elephant death cases. We identified the five others who were still absconding," Rivai said in Meulaboh, Aceh.

         The suspects claimed that they killed the elephants by using traditional traps because the giant animals often damaged fields, and attacked a villager and caused his death.

         The local police officers, however, were still searching for the buyer of the ivory taken from the young elephant that was killed.  
    Previously, chief of the Aceh Province Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA) Genman Suhefti Hasibuan confirmed that the investigation into the death of a Sumatran elephant in West Aceh District will be continued.

        "The handling of the dead elephant case will be assisted by local police officers this Saturday," he said as reported by the Kompas daily on April 10.

         The elephant was found dead with missing trunks inside the forest of Teuping Panah Village in Kaway XVI Subdistrict, West Aceh District, on April 1. The endangered animal was likely killed, he said.

         Another Sumatran elephant was also found dead in the Leuser forest area of the Southeast Aceh district last February, he added.

         In the Riau province of Sumatra, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) had called for a probe into the killing of 43 Sumatran elephants in the province over the past three years.

        "Over the past three years, there was a high rate of elephant killing cases. We are worried the people will consider elephant deaths as common, albeit the fact is that all of them were poisoned to death," Syamsidar, a spokesman of the WWF Program in Riau, told Antara in Pekanbaru, Riau, on April 28.

        In 2012, there were 15 cases of elephant deaths that were not probed as yet; 14 cases in 2013, including 13 deaths that occurred in the Tesso Nilo National Park in Riau.

         During the January-March 2014 period alone, there were 14 cases of elephant killing. One of the deaths occurred during a relocation of a wild elephant from its habitat in the Rokan Hulu district to the Elephant Conservation Center in Minas in the Siak district, Riau, on January 1.

        The criminal cases had not been disclosed so far and no one was held responsible, he said. "None of the cases has been dealt with and no one has been brought to court," he added.

        WWF is committed to helping mitigate the conflicts between people and animals in Sumatra, but the government must also enforce the laws, according to the spokesman.

        "Legal enforcement must be intensified because the cases that occurred over the past three years showed that the elephants were poisoned illegally. There must be legal enforcement," Syamsidar said.

        According to an estimate in 2009, the population of elephants in the Riau province was 150 to 200 heads. He, however, estimated that the number may be lower due to the high rate of killing of elephants.

        Sumatran elephants are part of the Asian elephant family, which are slightly smaller than their African counterparts. Male Sumatran elephants have relatively short tusks, while females' tusks are hidden behind their upper lips.

        These elephants are protected under an Indonesia law on conservation approved in 1990 and were listed in 2012 as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

        The Sumatran elephant, found only in western Indonesia, is one of several critically endangered species. According to the WWF, the elephants are vital in maintaining the biodiversity of the island to which they are indigenous.

        In March 2014, the Indonesian Ulema (Cleric) Council (MUI) issued a fatwa or edict no. 4/2014 on the Preservation of Rare Animals to Maintain the Ecosystem Balance. 
   Signed on January 22, 2014, the fatwa required the country's 200 million Muslims to take an active role in protecting threatened species, including tigers, rhinos, elephants and orangutans.

        The fatwa was the first of its kind in the world and it was accompanied by plans for education awareness programs to help local communities put it into practice.

        "This fatwa was issued to provide an explanation as well as guidance to all Muslims in Indonesia on the perspective of the sharia law on issues related to animal conservation," Dr. Hayu Prabowo, the chief of the MUI's Agency for Honoring Environment and Natural Resources, said as reported by the WWF. 
   Indonesian Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan, who was present during the proclamation of the fatwa at the Ragunan Zoo, South Jakarta, said, "The MUI fatwa was a strategic move to encourage Muslims to help preserve the endangered animals through social, cultural and religious approaches."  ***3***
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(T.F001/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 29-04-2014 22:53:33