Indonesians have been sentenced today to life in prison for setting up a power fence responsible for the 2020 death of five endangered Sumatran elephants, whose tusks were sold.
Authorities found the trunks of the five elephants in 2020 the same week at a palm oil plantation in the village of Tuye Peuria.
The Center for Conservation of Natural Resources concluded that the elephants had been killed two months earlier by an electric fence deliberately placed on the plantation and noted that parts of them had disappeared.
The court of the Jaya district of Aceh on the island of Sumatra sentenced 9 men to sentences ranging from 19 months to almost three and a half years in prison for the crime of poaching.
"The judges examined the role of each of the convicts in detail and imposed different sentences on them," said court spokeswoman Nadia Jurisa Antila.
"These elephants are protected" and those who killed them are subject to legislation to protect the ecosystem and natural resources, he said.
Police conducted a lengthy investigation before arresting the culprits in August and September 2021.
Deforestation has significantly reduced Sumatra elephant habitat and caused an increase in incidents between them and people who want to protect their crops, while at the same time pachyderms are being hunted for their tusks.
Many Sumatran elephant deaths have been reported in recent years. One of them died after losing half his proboscis in a trap set by poachers in November.
The Aceh Natural Resources Service estimates that less than 500 Sumatran elephants still live in the wild in the province, while the International Natural Resources Agency estimates that there are 2.400 such elephants in Indonesia.
Source: RES-EAP