Aceh's conservation agency conducts lab test for elephant death
Antara
March 28, 2024
The Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) sent a sample of
dung and ascites of a Sumatran elephant, found dead in a palm plantation
area in North Aceh District, to a laboratory.
"The sample will be examined in a lab test to ensure the causes of death of
the Sumatran elephant," the agency's conservation head, Kamarudzaman, told
ANTARA upon being contacted from Banda Aceh on Wednesday.
The laboratory test would take at least one month, he remarked, adding that
the elephant's carcass was found inside a palm plantation area of Jabal
Antara Hamlet in Nisan Antara Sub-district on March 24.
The elephant tusks were gone by the time the local residents had found the
animal. A team of BKSDA's veterinarians had been deployed to the location
where the carcass of the endangered land mammal was found to conduct a
necropsy, he stated.
The veterinarians found that the elephant's vital organs, including heart,
spleen, and liver, had entered the first stage of decomposition, or
autolysis so they could no longer be examined in the lab test, he revealed.
They then took the sample of dung and ascites for the lab test, he stated,
adding that he has yet to conclude the cause of the elephant's death, as
the local police are still investigating the case.
Related news: Alleged poaching kills 46-year-old Sumatran elephant in Riau
park
ANTARA reported earlier that cases of human-wildlife conflicts (HWCs)
continue to be frequently found in Indonesia, as they resulted in human and
material losses and deaths of several endangered animals in affected
regions.
HWC-related occurrences that are closely related to the damaged condition
of the wildlife's natural habitat frequently occur in regions, such as the
provinces of Riau, North Sumatra, and Aceh.
In Aceh, the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) recorded 113
HWC-related occurrences between 2019 and 2023, including 33 involving
Sumatran elephants.
The conflicts had resulted in the deaths of 22 Sumatran elephants,
according to Walhi-Aceh Chapter Head Ahmad Shalihin's statement, published
on the conservation group's website.
Moreover, ivory traders continue to pose a threat to Sumatran elephants.
On August 27, 2021, police officers in Aceh Jaya District, Aceh Province,
arrested 11 people for their involvement in the killings of five Sumatran
elephants in 2020 and trading their ivory tusks.
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