Eleven people were sentenced to prison on Thursday in Indonesia for the death of five Sumatran elephants in 2020. The defendants had installed a high-voltage fence which had killed the pachyderms, and had then sold their tusks.
The authorities had found after the fact the remains of the elephants in an oil palm plantation near a village. The Center for the Conservation of Natural Resources had concluded that the animals had been killed two months earlier by an electric fence deliberately installed in the plantation, also noting that part of the remains had disappeared.
A dangerously endangered species
The relevant district court on the island of Sumatra sentenced nine men to terms ranging from 19 months to more than three years in prison for poaching. “These elephants are protected,” said the spokesperson for the court, explaining that the defendants therefore fell under the law on the conservation of the ecosystem and natural resources.
Deforestation has drastically reduced the habitat of Sumatran elephants and caused increased conflict with humans seeking to protect their farms. Pachyderms are also killed for their tusks. Many incidents causing the death of Sumatran elephants have been reported in recent years.
Last November, an elephant died after losing half of its trunk in a trap set by poachers. The Aceh Conservation Agency estimates that less than 500 Sumatran elephants still survive in the wild in the province. International conservation agencies estimate 2,400 individuals in Indonesia.