Yahoo News 28 Nov 10;
JAKARTA (AFP) – Five rare Sumatran elephants found dead in Indonesia were likely poisoned for damaging crops, according to an official.
The elephants, aged two to four years old, were found dead in an oil-palm plantation in a village in Riau province on Sumatra island on Friday, conservation agency official Edi Susanto said.
"Preliminary medical checks indicated that the elephants could have died from sulphur poisoning. We're still investigating," he said.
"We suspect villagers killed them using poison for wild boars as the elephants had damaged their crops. We're chasing the perpetrators," he added.
Human-animal conflicts are a rising problem as people encroach on wildlife habitats in Indonesia, an archipelago with some of the world's largest remaining tropical forests.
There are up to 3,350 Sumatran elephants remaining in the wild, according to the environmental group WWF.
Five Sumatran elephants poisoned to death in Riau
Antara 29 Nov 10;
Pekanbaru, Riau province (ANTARA News) - Five Sumatran Elephants (Elephas Maximus Sumatranus) were found dead last Friday (Nov 26) in Indragiri Hulu, Riau province, an official said.
The poor elephants were allegedly killed by irresponsible people by poisoning them in the working site of a mining company, PT Citra Sumber Sejahtera.
"Early investigations reveal that the deaths of five elephants may be caused by acts of poisoning," Chief of Division I of Riau Natural Conservation center Edi Susanto said here on Sunday.
He said there was an indication that the killing of the five elephants might be related to the conflict between locals and the ill-fated animals.
Around the elephants` death site, there were bush land and locals` rubber and palm plantations, he said.
According to a team whose members consisted of WWF activists and vets, the elephants were dead because of poisoning. However the type of poison and motive behind the cruel action were being investigated.
Last year, four elephants were also found dead in Peranap subdistrict, Riau province, in an acacia plantation owned by PT Rimba Peranap Indah (RPI).
RPI spokesman Subroto was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying that the elephants were found by field officers checking plants in two separate locations 50 meters apart. (*)
5 rare Sumatran elephants found dead in Indonesia
AP Yahoo News 28 Nov 10;
JAKARTA, Indonesia – Five endangered Sumatran elephants have been found dead in Indonesia, and conservationists said Sunday that they suspect farmers poisoned the animals to stop them from damaging crops.
The elephants — four females and one male all under the age of 5 — were found dead late Friday in Riau province on Sumatra island, said Edi Susanto, a government conservationist.
Susanto suspects that owners of nearby palm oil plantations used cyanide to poison the animals, which are known for damaging crops. He said an investigation is under way and samples from the dead elephants have been sent for analysis.
"We have told the district heads in Riau province to ban farmers from tending crops in the woods where the elephants search for food," Susanto said.
Only 3,000 Sumatran elephants are believed to remain in the wild, a number that dwindles each year with poaching and killing by farmers angry over crop losses. The animals are prized by poachers for their ivory tusks.
