Rangers of the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve were shocked to find a baby elephant, trying in vain to wake its mother, who had been poisoned along with 13 other elephants, all part of the same herd.
The herd had been staying at the edge of the
rainforest reserve, close to a logging camp and oil palm plantations.
Therein lay the problem. Their carcasses were discovered over the past
four weeks on land controlled by Yayasan Sabah, the state wood and palm
oil group. The family’s territory covers around 400 square kilometers
and is being taken away from them.
Plantation workers had been told to keep the elephants away from eating the fruit of the oil palm. To do this, they poisoned the increasingly rare pygmy elephants, of which only 1,500 remain, and almost all of them are in Sabah.
Plantation workers had been told to keep the elephants away from eating the fruit of the oil palm. To do this, they poisoned the increasingly rare pygmy elephants, of which only 1,500 remain, and almost all of them are in Sabah.
Laurentius Ambu, who is the director of the local conservation authority
said,“The elephants ate rat poison. That’s how the plantation workers
prevent the animals from eating the fruit of the oil palm,” referring
to the horrendous death of the rare forest elephants.
Policymakers in Malaysia are in the process of clearing the last remaining rainforest areas in the states of Sarawak and Sabah for more plantations, as the country continues to rely on the export of tropical timber and palm oil. However, by destroying these forests, Borneo is losing many important animal and plant species, including orangutans, proboscis monkeys and endangered rhinos. Now it seems the rare pygmy elephants are also in severe danger.
The deforestation is being driven by Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman, who personally grants permits for the clearing of the rainforest and for the establishment of palm oil plantations. Aman is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the state-owned Yayasan Sabah Group, who is late 2012 started cutting down another 70,000 hectares of rainforest for the new plantations. This left little or no room for the forest elephants.
Malaysian anti-corruption authorities have been investigating the bin Aman family since around 2007, and the network of corruption and money laundering extends from Malaysia right through to Hong Kong, Singapore and Switzerland. There have been allegations of 70 million euros in bribes being laundered through the Swiss bank UBS alone, and reportedly the Swiss federal prosecutor has opened a criminal case against the bank by the Bruno Manser Fund. The Fund is an environmental organization supporting the Penan people and their fight against the destruction of the rainforest.
At present, Malaysia's oil palm plantations cover more than 5 million hectares and the country produces around 20 million tons of palm oil annually, making Malaysia in second place after its neighbor, Indonesia. But at what an awful cost!
It is important to immediately halt this horrendous crime against nature and to work towards protecting the rainforests, rather than putting money into someone's already overflowing bank account.
For this reason, Rainforest Rescue is running a petition to call on Aman and the Malaysian government to immediately halt its actions and to protect both the rainforest and its inhabitants. Interested parties can sign a petition in this matter, or make a general donation towards the valuable work performed by Rainforest Rescue.
To the source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/342755
Policymakers in Malaysia are in the process of clearing the last remaining rainforest areas in the states of Sarawak and Sabah for more plantations, as the country continues to rely on the export of tropical timber and palm oil. However, by destroying these forests, Borneo is losing many important animal and plant species, including orangutans, proboscis monkeys and endangered rhinos. Now it seems the rare pygmy elephants are also in severe danger.
The deforestation is being driven by Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman, who personally grants permits for the clearing of the rainforest and for the establishment of palm oil plantations. Aman is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the state-owned Yayasan Sabah Group, who is late 2012 started cutting down another 70,000 hectares of rainforest for the new plantations. This left little or no room for the forest elephants.
Malaysian anti-corruption authorities have been investigating the bin Aman family since around 2007, and the network of corruption and money laundering extends from Malaysia right through to Hong Kong, Singapore and Switzerland. There have been allegations of 70 million euros in bribes being laundered through the Swiss bank UBS alone, and reportedly the Swiss federal prosecutor has opened a criminal case against the bank by the Bruno Manser Fund. The Fund is an environmental organization supporting the Penan people and their fight against the destruction of the rainforest.
At present, Malaysia's oil palm plantations cover more than 5 million hectares and the country produces around 20 million tons of palm oil annually, making Malaysia in second place after its neighbor, Indonesia. But at what an awful cost!
It is important to immediately halt this horrendous crime against nature and to work towards protecting the rainforests, rather than putting money into someone's already overflowing bank account.
For this reason, Rainforest Rescue is running a petition to call on Aman and the Malaysian government to immediately halt its actions and to protect both the rainforest and its inhabitants. Interested parties can sign a petition in this matter, or make a general donation towards the valuable work performed by Rainforest Rescue.
To the source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/342755
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