Tackling Wildlife Crime in Sumatra

Illegal logging, the practice of illegally harvesting, buying or selling timber from forested areas, has serious detrimental impacts on wildlife, people and the environment. In Sumatra, these effects range from the destruction of orangutan habitat to the endangerment of people's lives as disappearing forests lead to soil erosion and flooding. 

Illegal logging is therefore one of the primary areas of concern for the Forest and Wildlife Protection Unit (ForWPU). One recent investigation focused on Bukit Barisan Forest National Park. The team spent several months monitoring the area and collecting data, most recently documenting a large pile of 80 seven-metre long logs on the bank of the Batun river. At another location nearby, they found a stack of processed timber, indicating that the illegal logging operation is quite developed and widespread across the national park. 

The evidence painstakingly collected by the ForWPU team was passed on to local authorities, who will now take action against the loggers under Indonesia's forestry laws.

Bringing this kind of illegal activity to light takes a lot of time and effort by several teams of people, and ForWPU is a crucial piece of that puzzle. Thank you for supporting their work and helping to keep Sumatra's forests standing.

Working for the Forest and Wildlife Protection Unit is a very varied job. With an average of 1200km of precious forest covered by the team's patrols each year, every day brings new challenges in the mission to protect Sumatra's incredible wildlife.

So, what does a week in the life of the patrol team look like? Here's a recent example - shared with us by the team earlier this month.

Here is a list of threats found on patrol:

1. A complete stun stool and other fishing stun equipment. The owner is unknown.
2. Around 36 rubber trees in Gunung Leuser National Park. We removed the trees, as they are not permitted inside the national park.
3. Evidence of land burning and oil palm trees being planted inside the national park area.
4. A resident of a village near the forest has taken 33 saplings to be used to as building material. We found around 400 logs in his house, along with a machete and other tools. 
5. Working with the WCS patrol team, we caught four poachers, with a mouse deer (Tragulus kancil) carcass as evidence, along with two confiscated air rifles, bullets, and a machete.

In the cases where the team identified the individuals responsible for the poaching or logging, they handed them over to the authorities for questioning. As the account above shows, it's not always possible to tell who is responsible for things like land burning or planting crops inside the national park, but by documenting everything they find, the team can build a picture of wildlife crime hotspots and ensure these areas are monitored even more closely.

Thank you for continuing to support the Forest and Wildlife Protection Unit. You are making this vital work possible.

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