Posted on December, 22 2006

Bukit Tigapuluh – Indonesia. Two Sumatran elephants were found dead  near a community palm oil plantation in Kuantan Mudik sub district - Kuantan Singingi district Indonesia. The two elephants (a bull and a cow ) were discovered in an area adjacent to PT Artelindo Concession recently cleared by the community. The elephants were first discovered by the local community on 2 December following which a WWF team was deployed to field to investigate the deaths. According to the information gathered by the team, the bull was still breathing when discovered but died soon after. Judging from the findings, the team concluded that the elephants had been poisoned. The field team also found that the elephants’ dung were spread away which indicates an abnormal cause of death. The local community had handed over the tusks to the police which now remain in custody of BKSDA Riau (Riau Province’s Natural resource Conservation Agency).

The two elephants killed in the incident have been assumed belonging to the Serangge elephant pouch – located in the northwest of  Bukit Tigapuluh National Park.  Elephants from the same pouch had raided Anak Talang village in Aur Cina sub district- Indragiri Hulu district in October 2005. Following the incident, WWF and BKSDA Riau teams came together to guide and train the local communities in effective methods to drive away raiding elephants.

Earlier this year WWF called for immediate implementation of a decree issued by Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry that would establish Sumatra’s Riau Province as a center of elephant conservation.