Sumatra wildlife fight to survive<\/p>\n
Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau<\/p>\n
Wild animals in Sumatra are competing harder for natural
\nresources with people seeking profits from forests and other
\nnatural resources, experts said last week.<\/p>\n
Worse yet, these wild animals are also hunted by unscrupulous
\nprofit seekers, endangering their existence, they said.<\/p>\n
According to the National Biodiversity National Reference Unit
\n(BNRU), clashes between people and wild animals in May 2002 alone
\nresulted in the killing of at least 17 elephants in Barumun in
\nSouth Tapanuli regency, North Sumatra, while clashes with tigers
\nin Basilam in Dumai regency, Riau, claimed the lives of five
\npeople.<\/p>\n
\"The conflict is mostly driven by people's activities in
\nforests. These people are often unfair and lack proper respect
\nfor wild animals' survival and habitat,\" BNRU director Adi
\nSusminato said here last week.<\/p>\n
He added that large-scale plantation development, forest
\nburning and illegal hunting contributed significantly to the
\nconflicts.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Sumatra director
\nNazir Foead indicated that the human-wildlife conflict had posed
\na serious threat to animal conservation.<\/p>\n
\"The conflict has reached a critical level and will impose a
\nburden on society if forests are continuously converted into
\ncommercial estates,\" he said.<\/p>\n
I Made Subadia, director general of forest protection and
\nnature conservation at the Ministry of Forestry, concurred and
\nsaid that if no drastic measures were taken animals like rhinos,
\ntigers and elephants would eventually become extinct.<\/p>\n
Speaking to The Jakarta Post here, Made said the population of
\nthose wild animals had shrunk over the years, with elephants in
\nSumatra registered at between 2,330 and 3,354, tigers at 500 and
\nrhinos at only 132 in 2001.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Kerinci Seblat National Park,
\nRudyanto Tjahyo was quoted by Antara as saying in Padang on
\nSaturday that only 10 two-horn Sumatra rhinos were now living in
\nthe park. All of them lived in the North Bengkulu regency area.<\/p>\n
To protect these rhinos, Rudyanto said the park management, in
\ncooperation with the Indonesian Rhino Conservation Association,
\nhad taken steps to protect the North Bengkulu regency area of the
\npark from human activities.<\/p>\n
In an effort to protect wild animals in Sumatra, Made Subadia
\nsaid the government had helped establish rhino and tiger
\nprotection areas as well as an elephant training center.<\/p>\n
The government was also considering a proposal from the Riau
\nprovince to make the Tesso Nilo forests in Kuantan Singingi,
\nKampar and Pelalawan regencies an elephant conservation center.<\/p>\n
\"But in the field, this policy has not produced optimum
\nresults because of persistent disturbances from irresponsible
\npeople,\" Made said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sumatra-wildlife-fight-to-survive-1447893297",
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