| Sumatran Elephants Said to Become Extinct in Next 30 Years |
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| Tuesday, 24 January 2012 14:30 |
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Written by Melanie Kozlan, Four Green Steps
Environmentalists have warned that Sumatran elephants could be extinct within the next 30 years due to deforestation. Recently listed as 'Critically endangered' as their numbers dropped from 5000 to somewhere between 2400-2800 since 1985. "The decline is largely because of destruction of their habitat, with forests all across the Indonesian island of Sumatra being clear-cut for timber, palm oil and pulp and paper plantations. Sumatra has some of the most significant populations of Asian elephants outside of India and Sri Lanka and is also home to tigers, orangutans and rhinos." There has also been horrific news recently for African elephanst as ivory poaching has become an increased threat. Ivory estimated to weigh more than 23 metric tons—a figure that represents 2,500 elephants—was seized in the 13 largest seizures of illegal ivory in 2011. TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, recorded these major cases through the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS). The illegal ivory trade monitoring system holds details of over 17,000 reported ivory and other elephant product seizures since 1989.
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