Conservationist: 15 rare Sumatran elephants killed

[Coventina]

Source: Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — At least 15 endangered Sumatran elephants have been shot or poisoned to death with cyanide-laced fruit this year in Indonesia, marking a sharp rise over the previous year, a government conservationist said Wednesday.

The giant mammals were mostly killed by poachers for their ivory, said Tony Suhartono, the director of biodiversity conservation at the Forest Ministry.

The number killed in the past six months is equal to the total for the whole of 2008, he said.

"It is shocking," said Syamsidar, a campaigner with the World Wildlife Fund in the western island of Sumatra.

Several of the dead elephants were found in Sumatra's Riau province in or near oil palm plantations, and forensic tests showed they had eaten cyanide-laced pineapples. A number of others were shot in the head.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hOjL-AS4fcz1VuEZFS4bMCp04_9AD990UD700

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Please, boycott products with palm oil!

Buddhists (some sects) believe that there is a special hell for those who are cruel to animals.
I hope they're right.