Good News From Indonesia



(photos courtesy of Avery Fish)

The WWF recently sent me an update on the status of some endangered Sumatran elephants (discovered chained up with no food or water) which have now been relocated to a wildlife reserve but the really good news is that the wildlife reserve, Tesso Nilo National Park is soon to be almost trebled in size:

On 14 May eight endangered Sumatran elephants were released into Tesso Nilo National Park, seven weeks after they were found chained to trees without food or water in central Riau, Indonesia. Local forestry officials had captured the elephants after they had damaged crops and homes near Libo Forest.

WWF, which provided daily care and medical treatment for the elephants
after their discovery, accompanied the authorities as they released the
elephants to ensure that the release was done safely.

We were concerned, however, that Tesso Nilo was not a suitable release site as it was too small to provide habitat for more elephants.

But more good news followed just a few days ago when the Indonesian
Ministry of Forestry and the Government of Riau Province publicly committed to expand the Tesso Nilo National Park from 38,000 to 100,000 hectares.
This will provide much larger habitat for the elephants and help ensure
that future conflicts with humans can be reduced.

This is great news and we applaud the quick action of the Indonesian
authorities in showing a strong commitment to protect remaining elephant
habitats in Riau and also prosecuting those who have killed elephants or
destroyed elephant habitats.

Thank you to everyone who took action. With your help we are making a real difference.

The WWF Passport team




Readers interested in becoming WWF cyber activists (its free and signing up only takes a moment) should go to -

http://passport.panda.org/index.cfm?uNC=16668146


The Sumatran Elephant is an excellent example of how large animals have great difficulty adapting to human encroachment on their habitat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumatran_Elephant