(ID) Indonesians threaten to poison elephants

[Guest guest]

Agence France-Presse - 8/5/2008 10:09 AM GMT

 

http://news.id.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1605980

 

Indonesian villagers threatened Tuesday to poison rare wild elephants that

are destroying their palmoil plantations in search of food.

 

" The residents are so angry and have said they will put poison around the

plantation areas to kill the elephants unless officials take quick action, "

said Jambo Dalem village chief Teungku Baili.

 

He said he had warned officials in Trumon Timur district of Sumatra's Aceh

province, but nothing had been done to protect the plantations.

 

A herd of eight elephants grazed through the villagers' plantations twice

last week, apparently lured to the rows of palm fruit after their natural

habitat was wiped out to make way for the lucrative crop.

 

" I'm afraid that another attack on their plantations will push villagers to

launch their plan " to poison the animals, the village chief told AFP by

telephone.

 

" People here eagerly planted palmoil as it brings more profits, but it's all

been easily destroyed by elephants. "

 

The elephants have been destroying plantations since 2000 but the problem

has become worse over the past two months, he said.

 

Conflicts between wild animals and humans have long been on the rise in

Sumatra, where tropical jungles have been almost completely wiped out except

on mountain slopes.

 

Experts say palm oil plantations offer the pachyderms a more attractive

source of food than can be found in the forest.

 

The population of Sumatran elephants was estimated at between 2,400 and

2,800 last year, a decrease of 35 percent from 1992, according to the World

Wide Fund for Nature.