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Elephant killed for ivory in East Aceh
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Heinous crime: Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency personnel and a veterinarian team take samples from the body of Bunta, 27, a tame male elephant found dead in Bunin village, Serbajadi, East Aceh, Aceh, on Sunday. (Antara/Syifa Yulinnas)
A male elephant was found dead from poisoning in East Aceh, Aceh, on Sunday. One of its tusks had been removed.
Bunta, 27, was part of the Conservation Response Unit (CRU) elephant team, which wards off wild elephants trying to enter the area. Bunta and three other elephants had been stationed at CRU Serbajadi in Bunin village, Serbajadi district, East Aceh, Aceh, since January 2016.
The team was tasked with preventing animal-human conflicts in the area. Bunta was the main police elephant at CRU Serbajadi, which was visited by Hollywood actor Leonardo Di Caprio in March 2016.
Based on information provided by the CRU Serbajadi team on Sunday, Bunta was found dead when a mahout went to relocate him from a forest located 500 meters from the CRU base camp to another area at 8 a.m. local time.
He saw Bunta lying on the ground dead with one of his tusks missing. The mahout reported the incident to the Serbajadi Police, who forwarded the report to the East Aceh Police.
East Aceh Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Wahyu Kuncoro said it appeared that the elephant had eaten poison-laced bananas and mangoes. "We are waiting for the […] the Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency's veterinarian team to reveal cause of death." (ebf)
