Saving The Elephants of Sumatra

"The brutal 'War Against Nature' has nearly annihilated the Sumatran and Borneo elephants. And the prime culprit causing habitat loss is the rapacious and insatiable Indonesian palm oil plantation industry.

In addition to the corruption, which is rife throughout Indonesia's protected forests - poachers have also slaughtered the elephants for their tusks feeding the burgeoning international ivory market.

Over the past year in excess of 18 Sumatran elephants have been murdered. On the island of Borneo a similar story is playing out with the critically endangered pygmy elephants. It is heartbreaking to watch a pygmy elephant calf mourn the loss of its mother in the Gunug Rara Forest Reserve.

Last month in Sydney, Australia, Leif Cocks, founder of The Orangutan Project and Project Leader Alex Mobrucker launched the International Elephant Project to help save the remaining wild Sumatran and Borneo elephants utilizing effective elephant conservation actions.

There's less than 1,600 Sumatran elephants and about 1,000 Borneo pygmy elephants left on the globe. This is an epic crisis and these awesome animals are loosing their habitat in many cases due to illegal palm oil plantations.

The goal of the International Elephant Project is for the remaining elephants to live in the wild with their herds, and coexist peacefully with the indigenous peoples.

Please support the International Elephant Project they need help - now!"

Dr. Reece Halter

~Reese Halter

Broadcaster and Bioligist 

Huffington Post

April 5, 2013

I also included a little bit about the International Elephant Project from their site, which you can access above.  

"The Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) is only found on the island of Sumatra. There are estimated to be only 1,100 to 1,500 elephants left in the wild, mainly due to the forests of Sumatra being converted for palm oil and pulp paper at an unprecedented and unsustainable rate.

Human conflict, deforestation and the accompanying habitat shrinkage have led to major conflict with elephants. Elephants raid food crops, destroy rubber, palm oil and coconut plantations and even more seriously, are increasingly responsible for the destruction of villages and a number of human deaths. Without the direct intervention by our Elephant Conflict Mitigation Units (ECMU), the end result is always the death of the elephants.

Elephants are highly intelligent and self-aware beings, therefore their needs can only be met when living in the wild in their natural family groups. This is the goal of the International Elephant Project's adoption program."

Go make a difference!