Antara 14 Mar 12;
Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - A joint team is investigating the death of three Sumatran elephants in Pelalawan district in Riau province to determine whether the dead elephants were poisoned or killed by hunters.
"We are still investigating to see if it was the result of deliberate actions," the chief of the Tesso Nilo National Park agency, Hayani Suprahman, told ANTARA here on Saturday.
The case has drawn public attention since the deaths occurred within days of each other. Hayani said initial allegations focused on the elephants possibly being poisoned.
He added that the offices involved in the investigation are the Tesso Nilo National Park, the Tesso Nilo National Park Foundation, the Riau chapter of the Natural Resource Conservation Agency and the police.
"If, indeed, the elephants had been poisoned, we will find the perpetrators," he said.
The three elephants were found dead in Pangakala Gondai village in the Langgam sub-district in Pelalawan.
Last Tuesday a wild Sumatran elephant was found dead in Pangkalan Gondai, not far away from Tesso Nilo National Park. The dead animal was found with a wound in its head.
The following day another elephant was discovered dead about 400 meters from where the first elephant was found.
The third dead animal was found by a WWF team about 50 meters from where the second death occurred. Further, the team only found the skull of the dead animal, according to officials.
It is believed the dead elephants were originally from a group living in Tesso Nilo National Park. The area where the dead elephants were found had earlier been converted into oil palm plantations.
Based upon initial information, the elephants died from being poisoned. Officials speculated that the elephants were possibly looking for water near the river after they realized they had been poisoned.
(F012)
