Four elephants found dead in Riau forests

Four elephants found dead in Riau forests
Indonesia
Jakarta Post September 22, 2006 PEKANBARU, Riau (Agencies)

Four bodies of wild elephants have been found in the jungles of Riau province. Environmentalists suspected that the animals were dead after they were poisoned.

"Sample of the poison found near the dead elephant are being examined in laboratory," Samsuardi, an activist of WWF conservationist group was quoted by Antara news agency as saying.

One dead elephant was found at a forest near Segati village in Palalawan regency, while the three others were found at a timber estate owned by PT Siak Raya Timber. Samsuardi estimated the animals were killed one month ago. Meanwhile, Nurcholis Fadli also from WWF said that he believed villagers killed the elephants because they had been destroying crops, or because starving elephants had trampled at least four farmers to death last month. He said he believed the dead elephants were from the same family in Tesso Nilo National Park, where several other elephants were found dead earlier this year.

Fadli said the elephants had been covered with tree branches while roads leading to their location were blocked by logs, Fadli said. "There were strong indications that the animals were intentionally poisoned," Fadli was quoted by AP as saying in Pekanbaru. He urged authorities to take firm action to stop such killings. He said at least 20 wild elephants have been killed this year. Sumatra's elephant habitats are quickly shrinking due to illegal logging and land clearing. About 2,500 are believed to live wildon Sumatra.

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