JAKARTA, Jul 13 (NNN-ANTARA) – A protected Sumatran elephant was found dead, in Indonesia’s Aceh province, the Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency said, yesterday.
When the elephant was found last Sunday, its body was headless, the agency’s head, Agus Arianto said, adding that, an investigation on the cause of death is underway.
“It is presumed that the elephant died of ivory poaching. It is possible that perpetrators cut off the elephant’s head, and then took it to another place, to get its ivory,” said Arianto.
The status of the Sumatran elephants has been escalated, from endangered to critically endangered, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in 2012.
The number of these animals is decreasing, due to the hunting of elephant ivory and expansion of oil palm land, Arianto added.– NNN-ANTARA
