AFG reports that another extremely endangered Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) died on Wednesday. The WWF says that the male calf was less than two years old and starved to death. The calf was still in need of his mother's milk, but she died recently from eating palm oil crops doused with insecticides. His death was the eighth death since since May. Five of the eight have died near or inside a forest concession owned by Rimba Peranap Indah. Three were killed for their tusks and four poisoned after eating palm oil plants treated with toxic chemicals. Eighty-three percent of its former habitat has been transformed into plantations. There are about 2,400 elephants in Indonesia and they are extremely threatened by human greed and persecution. This grizzly file photo from AP shows five wild elephants found poisoned to death near Mahato village in Riau Province in 2006.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Another Senselessly Cruel Death
AFG reports that another extremely endangered Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) died on Wednesday. The WWF says that the male calf was less than two years old and starved to death. The calf was still in need of his mother's milk, but she died recently from eating palm oil crops doused with insecticides. His death was the eighth death since since May. Five of the eight have died near or inside a forest concession owned by Rimba Peranap Indah. Three were killed for their tusks and four poisoned after eating palm oil plants treated with toxic chemicals. Eighty-three percent of its former habitat has been transformed into plantations. There are about 2,400 elephants in Indonesia and they are extremely threatened by human greed and persecution. This grizzly file photo from AP shows five wild elephants found poisoned to death near Mahato village in Riau Province in 2006.