Antara 3 Jun 10;
Bengkalis, Riau Province (ANTARA News) - Suwanto (32), a plantation guard at Petani village, Mandau sub district, Bengkalis District, Riau Province, died after being attacked by a herd of elephants Wednesday evening.
Suwanto`s body was crushed under the feet of the giant animals, according to witnesses Thursday.
Earlier, he and tens of other villagers had tried to drive away around 18 elephants from a rubber plantation using fire-crackers.
"At the time, we did not at all expect the elephants to become angry by our actions to drive them away," Junaidi (40), a neighbor of Suwanto, said.
The villagers were panic stricken when the elephants turned back and attacked them.
"We all just ran to save ourselves," he said.
One hour after the incident, they found Suwanto`s body near a bush in horrible condition. They took the body to a nearby hospital and later buried him.
The Sumatran elephant, the smallest of the Asian elephants, is facing serious pressures arising from illegal logging and associated habitat loss and fragmentation in Indonesia.
The island`s elephant population has come under increasing threat from rapid forest conversion to plantations.
As forests shrink, elephants are increasingly closer to fields and cultivated land, generating conflict with humans that often result in the death of the elephants by poisoning or capture, as well as economic losses to humans.(*)
