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EKANBARU: A three-year-old baby elephant named Villa has reportedly died from an alimentary canal infection at the Tesso Nilo National Park (TNTN) in Riau.

The elephant died on Sunday but the news was only released by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Riau on Thursday.

“We had to wait for official reports from the Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) in Riau and requested confirmation from the TNTN Foundation,” WWF Riau spokesperson Syamsidar told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He said that Villa had come from a recreational park in Tanjung Bali, North Sumatra. She was brought to the Tesso Nilo park along with her parents in August by the Riau BKSDA in cooperation with the TNTN Foundation and WWF.

“The elephants were trained to become members of a group of elephants tasked with herding wild elephants, which was operated by the TNTN Foundation with the support of PT Musim Mas,” he said.

While waiting for another two adult elephants to be recruited into the group, Villa and her two parents underwent training at Lubuk Kembang Bunga village, Ukui district in Pelalawan regency.

“The three were in the care of a mahout but, unfortunately, Villa died,” Syamsidar said.

Based on a medical examination, Villa died from acute alimentary canal infection.