Two rare Sumatran elephants killed

Mar 31, 2009, 11:17 GMT

   Jakarta - Two Sumatran elephants have been shot and killed in Indonesia's Bengkulu province, a conservation official said Tuesday.

   The elephants were killed last week in the Kerinci Seblat National Park, said Dudy Wuryanto, head of the nature conservation agency in the neighbouring province of Jambi.

   He said the motive for the killings was unclear.

   Conservationists said widespread destruction of elephant habitat through illegal logging and uncontrolled conversion of forests into oil palm and pulp plantations has created conflict between humans and elephants, which are forced to feed on the crops that replaced their natural food resources.

   Poaching has also been blamed for the dwindling Sumatran elephant population, the smallest among the Asian elephants.

   The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), a global conservation group, estimates there are only about 3,000 Sumatran elephants left on Sumatra, the only island in Indonesia where they can still be found.

   They are listed as an endangered species and protected by law.

   Human-animal conflicts are a rising problem as human settlements encroach on natural habitats in Indonesia, an archipelago nation with some of the world's largest remaining tropical forests.