Please sign and share this petition in an effort to save the endangered Borneo Pygmy Elephant from becoming victims of the palm oil companies. These companies are poisoning these crucial animals that are strongly becoming extinct (only about 1,500 of the animals left.) What they are doing is killing the Borneo Pygmy Elephant by feeding them rat poison so that they will not eat the palm fruits.
Originally, when thinking of the palm oil business, the orangutan was the first victim of the trade. However, other animals including the Borneo Pygmy Elephant have fallen into the hands of those in the palm oil industry. Palm oil fruits thrive in the tropical rainforests throughout Malaysia and Indonesia where 90 percent of palm oil is produced. This product over the years is in high demand, but it comes at a high cost to the animals that also live in the rainforests, which includes the Borneo Pygmy Elephant.
It is estimated that there are only about 1500 pygmy elephants in existence in the wild. Because of the expansion of deforestation, this species of animal has lost much of its habitat and thusly its food to eat, forcing them to turn to palm plantations for nourishment. A pygmy elephant can consume about 300 pounds of vegetation daily, making them a threat to the palm oil companies. Since the animals are considered a threat to the industry, the animals are targeted with rat poison as a way to stop the Borneo Pygmy Elephant from eating the fruit.
It is illegal to hunt and kill the Borneo Pygmy Elephant according to Malaysia's Wildlife Conservation Law, with repercussions of fines and up to five years jail time. The poisoning of these animals recently killed 14 pygmy elephants of the same family. Plantation workers have no concerns for these elephants and the critical decline in numbers. We have to work hard to stop the poisoning of these Borneo Pygmy Elephants and save them from extinction. If not, their numbers will continue to dwindle as they are critically endangered.
