Fwd: Save Endangered Elephants in Indonesia SEND ACTION~a29595u94122

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>

> On March 21, ten endangered wild Sumatran elephants,

> chained to trees without food or water, were found

> by WWF on the island of Sumatra, in Indonesia. They

> had been captured by the Riau Provincial Forestry

> Service after feeding on the crops of a nearby

> village. WWF has since provided food, water, and

> emergency medical care to the elephants, but their

> fate remains uncertain.

>

> Only three weeks earlier, six other elephants had

> been found dead in an illegal oil palm plantation in

> Riau, apparently poisoned in retaliation for feeding

> in the plantation.

>

> These are the latest casualties in an escalating

> conflict between elephants and humans in central

> Sumatra, the direct result of uncontrolled and often

> illegal destruction of the elephants' forest habitat

> usually for oil palm and pulp.

>

> The Libo Forest, at the center of current conflicts,

> is one of only a few remaining retreats for

> elephants in central Sumatra. Balai Raja Duri

> Wildlife Sanctuary, where the ten chained elephants

> were found, was covered with 16,000 hectares (39,500

> acres) of forest when it was declared in 1986.

> Today, only 260 hectares (642 acres) remain.

>

> The loss of their habitat has resulted in massive

> conflicts between humans and elephants who are

> forced to feed on crops that have replaced their

> natural foods. This causes huge damage not only to

> local livelihoods, but also to houses and other

> property, and it sometimes causes human death. In

> retaliation, elephants are poisoned, shot, or die

> when captured by the authorities.

>

> As a result, Riau's elephant population has

> dramatically fallen to around 400 in 2003, a decline

> of 50 percent in just five years.

>

> This current crisis of humans and elephants dying is

> unnecessary. Human-elephant conflict can be avoided

> if elephants are given enough room to live and if

> these confrontations were dealt with professionally.

> Sadly, this is not happening in Riau.

>

> WWF is calling for the immediate end to all logging,

> encroachment, and conversion of elephant forests in

> Riau to protect the elephants' remaining habitat.

> The government should also immediately extend the

> size of the existing Tesso Nilo National Park from

> 38,000 hectares (94,000 acres) to at least 100,000

> hectares (247,000 acres).

>

> You can make a huge difference by showing the

> Indonesian government that people around the world

> care about these elephants.

>

> SIGN OUR ONLINE PETITION: Hit " reply " to this email

> and we'll add your name to our online petition

> below, and send it to the president of Indonesia.

> (This option works only if you received this email

> directly from the Conservation Action Network.)

>

> Or you can sign the petition at:

>

http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ctt.asp?u=94122 & l=121100

>

> If you have any questions or problems with taking

> action, contact us for help:

> actionquestions

>

> Working together, we can protect the wild habitats

> and endangered elephants of Sumatra. Please forward

> this email to your friends. Thank you!

>

> Sincerely,

>

> Sybille Klenzendorf, PhD

> Species Conservation Program

> World Wildlife Fund

> Washington, D.C.

>

> ***************************PETITION

> TEXT**************************

>

> Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

> President of the Republic of Indonesia

> P.O. Box 9949

> Jakarta 10000

> Indonesia

>

> Dear President Yudhoyono:

>

> I am deeply concerned over the plight of the

> endangered wild Sumatran elephants in Riau,

> Indonesia.

>

> I urge the Indonesian government to immediately stop

> all logging, encroachment, and conversion of forests

> in elephant habitats in Riau and protect them as

> national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

>

> The current crisis also strongly shows the needs to

> extend the existing Tesso Nilo National Park from

> 38,000 hectares to at least 100,000 hectares to

> provide a larger habitat for the elephants.

>

> I welcome the development in 2004 of a

> human-elephant conflict mitigation protocol for Riau

> by the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry and several

> nongovernmental organizations. I believe this

> protocol, if implemented, would avoid the kinds of

> cases that have occurred in recent weeks. I

> therefore urge the Riau authorities to stop the

> capture of elephants and instead speedily implement

> this protocol.

>

> Other initiatives such as those conducted in the

> Tesso Nilo landscape, which have successfully

> reduced the rate of forest loss, elephants deaths,

> and losses suffered by local communities due to

> elephant-human conflicts, should be replicated

> across the province.

>

> Recent incidents such as the cases of the ten

> captured and abandoned elephants or the six poisoned

> elephants should not be allowed to occur again.

> Putting an end to these conflicts is essential not

> just for Sumatra's elephants but also to safeguard

> the lives and livelihoods of the communities living

> alongside them.

>

> ***************************END OF

> LETTER*************************

>

> Learn more about the following:

>

> * The ten captured elephants in Sumatra

>

http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ctt.asp?u=94122 & l=121418

>

> * A project to use squads of domestic elephants to

> keep wild elephants away from people in Sumatra

>

http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ctt.asp?u=94122 & l=121102

>

> * The creation of Tesso Nilo National Park, which

> includes some of the last remaining forest for

> Sumatran elephants

>

http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ctt.asp?u=94122 & l=121420

>

> * The launch of a plan to reduce human-elephant

> conflicts in Sumatra

>

http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ctt.asp?u=94122 & l=121104

>

> * The highlights of WWF's 2005 work on the islands

> of southeast Asia

>

http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ctt.asp?u=94122 & l=121105

>

>

>

___________________

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> with the World Wildlife Fund Conservation Action

> Network.

>

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>

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>

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>

>

___________________

> Direct any questions about the WWF Conservation

> Action Network to

> actionquestions

>

___________________

> The Conservation Action Network is sponsored by

> World Wildlife Fund-US. Known

> worldwide by its panda logo, WWF has 45 years of

> proven results in its mission to conserve the

> miraculous diversity of nature. The largest

> multinational conservation organization in the

> world, WWF works in 100 countries on more than 2,000

> projects, supported by 1.2 million members in the

> United States. WWF calls on everyone -- government,

> industry, and individuals

> -- to take responsibility by taking action to save

> our living planet.

>

> World Wildlife Fund

> 1250 Twenty-fourth Street, NW

> Washington, DC 20037

> http://www.worldwildlife.org

> http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org

 

 

 

 

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