RIAU POLICE FINALLY ACHIEVE BREAKTHROUGH IN ELEPHANT POACHING, IVORY TRADE By Fardah

    Jakarta, Feb 14, 2015 (Antara) - The population of Sumatran elephants (Elephas Maximus Sumatranus) has been dwindling rapidly due to poaching and deforestation, and the giant animal's habitat has shrunk by around 70 percent over the past quarter of a century.

         For instance, the World Wide Fund for Nature reported that Riau Province has no major protected areas for its approximately 700 elephants. Instead, Sumatra's elephants exist in small forest parcels surrounded by homesteads, oil palms, timber plantations, and logging concessions.

         More than 145 Sumatran elephants have died mysteriously and tragically over the past decade, said Syamsidar, a spokesman for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)'s Riau Program.

         "While some were killed during conflict with human beings, others have been slayed by illegal ivory traders. Only a few have succumbed to ailments," WWF's Riau Program spokesman said on Friday.

         He regretted that in more than 100 elephant death cases, only a few had been uncovered and brought to court. The last illegal ivory trading case that was brought to court was in 2005. No other cases of elephant killings have been reported in court, he added.    
    The WWF has recorded 43 cases of Sumatran elephant poaching in Riau. However, no arrests have been made so far. In 2012, 15 cases were reported, but no arrests were made.

       In 2013, there were 14 cases of elephant deaths, of which 13 were found dead in the Tesso Nilo National Park. As per reports, 14 wild elephants were found dead under unnatural circumstances in 2014.

        "Therefore, we have huge hopes from the Riau Police, which is currently handling an illegal ivory trade case," he stated.    
   Syamsidar pointed out that the WWF hopes that the poachers will be awarded stern punishments for killing the elephants and illegally trading in their tusks.

       "This criminal activity had been going on for a long time. But, it was revealed only this year. We appreciate the police for unearthing it," he added.

        The Riau Police recently detained eight poachers, confiscated several ivory tusks, and named seven of them as suspects for illegally supplying ivory to international markets.    
  The arrest was the first of its kind in four years, despite several poaching cases being reported.

        Riau Police Chief Brigadier General Dolly Bambang Hermawan remarked that he will jointly conduct a thorough investigation into the illegal ivory trade case with the Jambi Province police.

        "We are collaborating with the Jambi Province police as the same poachers have killed elephants for tusks in Jambi forests," he noted.

         The arrests were made on February 10, while the poachers were trying to sell a pair of two-meter-long ivory tusks, Riau Police spokesman Adjunct Senior Commissioner Guntur Aryo Tejo stated on Feb. 11.

        The tusks were extracted from a wild male elephant that had been killed in the Mandau sub-district of Bengkalis District, Riau Province.

       The ivory tusks were about to be sold for Rp10 million per kilogram.

        The poachers' names were announced as their initials as FA (50), HA (40), R (37), MU (52), S (30), R (30), I (25), and AS (50). FA is the main accused for the illegal hunting activities. He has admitted to having killed six elephants, including their calves.

       The accused were detained at the Riau police office, and are facing a five-year prison term and a fine amounting to Rp200 million.

        "They belong to a cruel syndicate; they shot the elephants in their heads for their tusks. I strongly suspect they are part of a syndicate because they were operating in different provinces, i. e. in Riau and Jambi," Senior Commissioner Y. S. Widodo, who is the head of the criminal investigation unit of the Riau police, stated on February 11.

        "During interrogation, the suspects also confessed to having killed three elephants in the Tesso Nilo National Park in Riau, three days ago. The elephants that were poached comprised of a female and two males," he noted.

        In September 2014, they had also killed two elephants in Jambi, and had sold their tusks for Rp8 million, Widodo revealed.

       "Besides taking the ivory from the adult elephants, the hunters also killed young Sumatran elephants. They extract their organs for sale," Widodo noted.

        The Riau Police have discovered six more tusks of Sumatran elephants poached in the Riau forests.

        "In total, we have seized eight tusks. It is possible that more tusks are still hidden by FA at his house," Widodo said.

        All the tusks have been seized and will be used as proof in the illegal ivory trade and Sumatran elephant poaching cases, he said.

        The police will also see whether eight poachers, including FA who is now being detained by the police in Riau, belong to an international network of illegal ivory traders.

        The international trade in ivory has been banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) since 1990.

        According to a recent study carried out by leading elephant experts, 100,000 elephants in Africa were killed illegally for their ivory tusks between 2010 and 2012.
   The population of Sumatran elephants, the smallest of the Asian elephants, was estimated to be between 2,400 and 2,800 heads in 2007, down by 35 percent from the figure in 1992, when there were 5,000 elephants.

        Some other factors, which have led to the elephant population slipping, include deforestation, poaching and human encroachment of the animal's habitats.

         Between 2000 and 2007, conflict between people and elephants killed a total of 42 people and 100 elephants on the Sumatra Islands. ***2***

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