T

he Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA Aceh) has started investigating the death of a Sumatran elephant found at an oil palm plantation in Ranto Peureulak in East Aceh regency, Aceh – the second case of its kind this month.

The male Sumatran elephant was 4 or 5 years old, BKSDA Aceh head Agus Arianto said.

“We do not yet know the cause of the death,” he said as reported by tempo.co on Thursday.

Veterinarians of the agency immediately conducted a necropsy to determine the cause of death. BKSDA Aceh also coordinated with local police to check the areas surrounding the location of the dead elephant.

This marks the second finding of a dead Sumatran elephant in Aceh. Earlier this month, local residents found a decaying elephant carcass at a production forest in Kerung Baung village in Peunaroen district, also in East Aceh regency.

The Sumatran elephant is a critically endangered species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List due to a significant decrease of its population as a result of habitat encroachment and poaching.

Agus urged local residents to take part in elephant conservation as Sumatran forests, home to the elephant, were constantly being deforested to make way for human and business activities.

“The damage of their habitat would trigger conflict with humans,” he added.

The finding occurred only a day after a wild Sumatran elephant was brutally killed in Kelayang in Indragiri Hulu regency, Riau. The elephant’s face was severely mutilated, though its tusks were still intact.

The elephant was found 4 kilometers from the Kelayang district head office in Indragiri Hulu regency, Riau, on Wednesday, with the perpetrators still at large.

Kelayang village police reported the finding of the body to the Kelayang Police at 2:12 p.m. on Wednesday. BKSDA Riau and the Kelayang Police managed to secure the crime scene by 4:50 p.m.

“The BKSDA’s medical and investigation team and the Riau Police’s special crime investigation team departed from Pekanbaru at 5 p.m. on Wednesday,” BKSDA Riau head Suharyono told reporters on Thursday, adding that they conducted an autopsy and began an investigation after arriving at the scene.

Suharyono suspected that the elephant was killed because it was considered a pest by locals as it had been separated from its herd, which lives in the Southeast Tesso elephant area of Riau’s Tesso Nilo National Park.

“The elephant reportedly entered residential and farm areas that are actually part of its home range,” Suharyono said, explaining that residents’ palm and rubber plants had been damaged on several occasions because of the elephant.

A BKSDA team tried to drive the elephant back into the forest four different times between May 2019 and April 2020 but to no avail.

“The BKSDA strongly condemns the killing. Together with the police, we will find the culprit and bring them to justice,” Suharyono said. (dpk/mfp)