Two elephants found dead in Riau

Antara 28 Mar 10;

Pekanbaru (ANTARA News) - Two Sumatran elephants (Elephas Maximus Sumatranus) were found dead in the Tesso Nilo National Park, Riau province.

"The two elephants are predicted to have died about a week ago and found in the national park," head of the Tesso Nilo national park Suprahman said here, Sunday.
He said that the wild elephants were found dead in Air Hitam village, Pelalawan regency, Riau.

The national park`s staff initially found the estimated six to seven years old dead male elephant with a missing right tusk on Saturday (27/3) at 9.00 pm local time.
After conducting patrol, another dead elephant was also found about 100 meters away from the first one will its tasks still intact.

Suprahman said that the Tesso Nilo National Park with the Central Natural Resources Conservation (BBKSDA) Riau, WWF (world Wildlife Fund) and the Ukui Police is now doing further investigations on the elephant`s cause of death.

Suprahman said that the team is still unable to identify the perpetrators and the elephant`s cause of death.

The WWF Riau Public relation officer, Syamsidar, said that the dead elephans were found in cleared forest area which had being converted into a palm estate.

Within the last month three Sumatran elephants were found dead after being killed in Riau. Last week, an elephant was also found dead with missing tusks in Petani village, Mandau sub-district, Bengkalis District.

"From the tusk cut, most likely the perpetrator was not a hunter," he said.
The law enforcement agencies however are still unable to arrest any of the perpetrators. (T.A050/H-NG/B003/P003)

Elephants Found Dead in Sumatra
Jakarta Globe 29 Mar 10;

Pekanbaru, Riau. The carcasses of two Sumatran elephants were discovered at the Tesso Nilo National Park in Pelalawan, Riau, an official said on Monday.

The discovery comes not long after the carcass of a young male elephant was found without its tusks at Petani village in Bengkalis district.

Hayani Suprachman, head of the national park, said the two elephant carcasses were found at different timed and locations. The first one was found around 9 pm on Saturday night and the second a few hours later.

“The second carcass was found about 100 meters from the first,” Hayani said.

“We have strong assumptions that those two were [deliberately] killed,” he said.

The first carcass, around 5 to 6 years old, was found with its right tusk missing and half of its left tusk had been chopped off. The second elephant, believed to be around 6 to 7 years old, still had its tusks.

Hayani said the case was being investigated by the Ukui sub-district police and the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency with help from the Riau chapter of the World Wildlife Fund, an NGO.

Trisnu Danisworo, head of the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency, said a team had been dispatched to investigate the killings, although any legal enforcement would be left in the hands of the National Park officials.

Despite suspicions the elephants were killed for their tusks, Hayani believed the elephants were killed by people who were illegally setting up plantations in protected areas.

“At the moment, we suspect that the killings were not intended to get the tusks because these were the work of amateur hunters. If they were professionals, they would not have left the tusks behind,” he said.

“It’s most likely the work of illegal planters because these animals were killed in areas that have been illegally opened for plantations.”

He said the recent killings undermined the government’s effort to conserve the elephants, especially considering that there are only around 100 left at the national park.

Originally, Tesso Nilo National Park only covered around 38,000 hectares but was expanded to 86,000 hectares last year.