Endangered Orangutans, Tigers & Elephants in Sumatera

Temara is a 16 years old Orangutan born at the Zoo in Perth, Western Australia. And 3 years ago, she was released into the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park, in Sumatera so that she can live peacefully with around 100 other Orangutans.

However, it seems that Temara and her friends would not be able to live peacefully very long. The Sydney Morning Herald quoted conservation groups like the World Life Fund (WWF) as saying that the Asia Pulp Paper (APP) & Sinar Mas Group have been granted license to use 300,000 hectares of forest surrounding the national park as source of raw material for their Pulp industry.

The sad thing is that the said unprotected forest is also the habitat of other wild life. Google Alert mentioned that the said forest is the home of 100 out of the last 400 endangered Sumatera Tigers in the wild, and around 50 Sumatera Elephants. Deforestation would force the Tigers and Elephants into closer contacts with villagers. This year, at least nine people have been killed by tigers on Sumatra, while villagers have killed four tigers.
However, APP’s Sustainable Director Aida Greenbury said that its plans to log forest areas around the national park would actually help the orangutans, not harm them. She said : "Well managed pulpwood plantations act as buffer zones, which have been proven to deter illegal logging -- this ensures that protected areas remain protected."

Considering the above, I hope that the central government in Jakarta as well as the local government will make sure that the license for APP and Sinar Mas would not disturb the Orangutans in the national park, also the Tigers and Elephants in the surrounding forest.