CENTRAL ACEH, Indonesia — A Sumatran elephant found dead in Indonesia’s Central Aceh district in late February was the latest case of electrocution to kill one of Indonesia’s remaining critically endangered elephants, officials in the semiautonomous region of Aceh province say. In a separate incident a day later, a farmer died after encountering an elephant […]

CENTRAL ACEH, Indonesia — A Sumatran elephant found dead in Indonesia’s Central Aceh district in late February was the latest case of electrocution to kill one of Indonesia’s remaining critically endangered elephants, officials in the semiautonomous region of Aceh province say. In a separate incident a day later, a farmer died after encountering an elephant herd near his family’s corn field. According to a senior conservation official in Aceh, Cyclone Senyar, which killed more than 1,000 people in late November, may have disrupted elephant movement patterns and increased the risk of such encounters. In a further incident, police in Sumatra’s Riau province on Mar. 3 announced they would charge 15 people after uncovering an alleged poaching ring linked to the shooting of an elephant on Feb. 2. The elephant was found on a palm oil concession operated by PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper, a subsidiary of Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd, known as the APRIL Group. “We suspected that the animal was looking for food,” said Anwar, a resident of Karang Ampar village in Ketol subdistrict after the body of the elephant was found there. The body of the female Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus), aged around 20 years old, was discovered on the outskirts of Karang Ampar on Feb. 20. “Its trunk was entangled in a wire that had been put up around the land,” Anwar said, referring to an electrified fence. He added that encounters with elephants had increased in frequency. In much of Sumatra, farming…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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