Snares set by poaching are still threatening Sumatran Rhino, now with only about 80 left

The leuser ecosystem on the island of Sumatra, is home to a fascinating range of animals, not found together anywhere else. In particular, this ecosystem supports tigers orangutans elephants and rhino.

Sumatran rhino baby, an incredibly rare sight

While these traps are sometimes set for trophy animals such as those above, they are more often set for smaller animals for bush meat. This means a piecemeal solution will not work. We need to improve the earning potential of people in this part of the world so that they can get their meat from sustainable places. This in theory can be done through tourism, though until the end of the epidemic this is likely to be hard to get off the ground.

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