Antara 24 Mar 10;
Bengkalis, Riau (ANTARA News) - A Sumatran elephant (elephant maximus sumateraonsis) was found dead in Mandau sub district, Bengkalis District, Riau Province.
Poiman (60), a local villager, said the elephant`s corpse was found after somebody smelled something bad near the main road when entering a forest area managed by PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia (CPI), Wednesday at 5 am local time.
"We don`t know what had caused the elephant`s death. People just found a rotting corpse and covered it with leafs and branches. We did not want to approach it because it was very smelly and we worried that other elephants might come," Parmin said.
Another villager, Ardi (34), said that the dead elephant had lost its two tusks.
The local inhabitants suspected that the elephant had been killed by unknown people.
"Yesterday, we heard three gun shots," he said.
Brilian, another resident, said four elephants had been spotted in local people`s rubber plantations over the past week, preventing the people from tapping the gum.
"We have tried to drive them away by setting cannon and fireworks, but they are still roaming around our rubber plantations," he said.
Petanni Village Head Riyanto said it would be very difficult to check the cause of the elephant`s death because its corpse had already rotten and was full of worms and flies.
Riyanto had reported the dead elephant find to the local police and Bengkalis nature resource conservation office (BKSDA).
He also asked the local authorities to be responsive to local people`s complaints on the wild elephants entering rubber plantations.
Head of the Bengkalis BKSDA Hutomo said he would investigated the death of the elephant as it was a protected animal.
The Sumatran elephant is the smallest of the Asian elephants. They can live to be 60-70 years old and grow to body height of up to 1.70-2.6 m. at the shoulder.
They usually weigh between 6,615 and 11,020 pounds! Due to deforestation and destruction of habitat, the Sumatran elephants have become endangered.
