Alleged poaching kills 46-year-old Sumatran elephant in Riau park

2024-01-13 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia.

The Tesso Nilo National Park in Pelalawan District, Riau Province, again lost one of its Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) after a poacher allegedly killed it for its tusks. The 46-year-old elephant, named "Rahman", was found dead by its mahout on January 10, and its left tusk was cut off, according to the national park's head, Heru Sutmantoro when contacted for a confirmation on Thursday (January 11). The poacher might have poisoned the ill-fated elephant before cutting off its l...

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80Kg Kama, Baby Elephant Born at Bali Zoo

2023-12-23 - Ubud, Indonesia.

The Bali Zoo in the Village of Singapadu, Gianyar Regency, welcomed its newest resident on 24 November 2024 with the birth of a “Baby Boy” elephant named Kama. Weighing in at a healthy 80 kilograms at birth, Kama can stand and suckle milk produced by his mother, Nurhayati. A member of the critically endangered Sumatra Elephant subspecies (Elephas maximus sumatranus), Kama’s father at The Bali Zoo is 35-year-old Budi, while his mother Nurhayati is 45. Kama was born on 24 November 2023 at 7:...

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Critically endangered Sumatran elephant born in Indonesia

2023-11-13 - Way Kambas, Indonesia.

A critically endangered Sumatran elephant was born in western Indonesia over the weekend, according to officials, weighing about 108 kilograms (238 pounds), the yet-to-be-named male calf was born at the Way Kambas National Park in Lampung province in southern Sumatra, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry said Sunday. The calf was in good health and his mother Riska was being monitored after giving birth on Saturday, the ministry said. Riska had a female calf in 2017.

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43 Year Age Elephant Death Chronology At Aek Nauli Elephant Conservation Camp Simalungun

2023-02-18 - Berita, Indonesia.

The male elephant Dwiki, aged approximately 43 years, was declared dead in ANECC, Simalungun Regency, February 14, 2023 at 06.20 WIB."On December 18, 2022, two Dwiki and Dini elephants were moved from Barumun Nagari Wildlife Sanctuary (BNWS) to Aek Nauli Elephant Conservation Camp (ANECC)," said Rudianto, in a statement obtained, Friday, February 17, as reported by Antara. "The action taken by giving 100 bottles of infusion, medicine and vitamins. However, the condition of the Dwiki elephant wea...

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Surabaya Zoo should rectify errors following elephant calf"s death: MP

2021-12-20 - Surabaya, Indonesia.

The Surabaya City legislative body's Commission B member, Alfian Limardi, urged the Surabaya Zoo operator to take requisite steps to address loopholes in the zoo management following the death of an elephant calf named Dumbo. Dumbo, a male Sumatran elephant, was born on July 22, 2019, from a male elephant Lembang and female elephant Doa.

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Baby elephant is forced to have her trunk amputated after being snared by cruel poachers and left behind by her herd in Indonesia

2021-11-16 - Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

A baby elephant was forced to have her trunk amputated after being snared by cruel poachers and left behind by her herd in Indonesia. She was rescued on Sunday in Alue Meuraksa, a village in the Aceh Jaya district which is forested, according to Agus Arianto, who is the head of Aceh province's conservation agency. To save the life of the baby elephant, wildlife officials today had to amputate half of her trunk at the Elephant Training Centre in Aceh Besar, Indonesia.

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"Just skin and bones": Bali elephants left to starve

2021-10-07 - Petang, Indonesia. Al Jazeera Staff

Bali Elephant Camp (BEC), a safari-style park, north of Ubud, Indonesia, left more than a dozen elephants to starve, and staff without pay after plummeting ticket sales forced it to close when COVID-19 spread around the world and borders were closed. . “Our friends in conservation say we have some of the healthiest, happiest elephants they’ve ever seen!” the company’s website boasts. But photographs taken by a wildlife veterinarian at the park in May and shared exclusively with Al Jazeer...

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Veterinarian team treats wounded female Sumatran elephant in East Aceh

2021-03-23 - Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

This wild Sumatran elephant was found abandoned in a forest near Srimulya Village in Peunaron Sub-district, East Aceh District, Aceh Province, in mid-March and received medical treatment on early Sunday (March 21), Anhar, the forum's veterinarian, noted: "The elephant is estimated to have been injured two or three weeks ago," Anhar remarked, adding that the local villagers, however, informed the FKL officers in Langsa District on March 16.

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Baby elephant born in North Sumatra"s Tangkahan CRU

2021-02-04 - Medan, Indonesia.

A 35-year-old elephant, named "Sari," gave birth to this female calf, weighing 69 kilograms and 108 centimeters in height, in the Tangkahan Conservation Response Unit (CRU), Mount Leuser National Park (TNGL) in Langkat District, North Sumatra. There are now fewer than 1,700 Sumatran elephants (elephas maximus sumatranus) left in the wild, according to some reports.

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For Sumatran elephant conservation, involvement of local people is key

2021-01-05 - , Indonesia. Roderick T.J. Buiskool

For critically endangered Sumatran elephants, a long-term conservation strategy must include community involvement in mitigating human-elephant conflict, in addition to securing viable habitats. In order to effectively address these challenges in the long term, local communities around the WKNP must be placed at the center of the conservation efforts and be seen as key to mitigating HEC. Any mitigation strategy implemented requires their involvement, with support from the government, specificall...

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Can drone technology save the Sumatran elephant?

2016-11-29 - , Indonesia.

Fauna & Flora International has acquired two quadcopter drones to help reduce incidents of conflict between humans and wild elephants in Sumatra, Indonesia. The acquisition of two quadcopter drones is helping Fauna & Flora International´s (FFI) Aceh team to monitor the location of Sumatran elephants in Aceh, Indonesia, and respond quickly when elephants are approaching community farms to minimise potential conflicts.

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Killing jumbo a step backwards

2016-11-23 - Kota Kinabalu, Indonesia.

WWF-Malaysia has frowned on the State Wildlife Department´s killing of a bull elephant in Tawau in a Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) as it impacts the shrinking population of Sabah´s pachyderms. The Department confirmed that the culled bull was in musth, a period where male elephants are known to exhibit aggressive behaviour and, consequently, are susceptible to provocation.

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Rare Sumatran elephant found dead in Aceh

2015-11-18 - Aceh, Indonesia.

A RARE Sumatran elephant has been found dead in Indonesias Aceh province after apparently eating fertiliser. THE body of the six-year-old male was found in a coffee plantation in Pidie district on Tuesday, said Genman Hasibuan, the head of the provincial Nature Conservancy Agency. "We suspect he died of accidental poisoning because we found splattered fertiliser urea nearby," left behind by a farmer in his hut, Hasibuan said.

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Elephant dies as conflict with humans intensifies

2015-11-13 - Aceh, Indonesia.

Since last week, residents of Seumanah Jaya subdistrict in Ranto Peureulak district have been forced to stay away from their plantations after a herd of some 50 wild elephants took over the area. We no longer know what to do to get rid of the wild elephants, Sumanah Jaya subdistrict head Jamian told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

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Elephants in Indonesia being trained to help fight forest fires

2015-11-11 - Riau, Indonesia.

Forestry officials in Indonesia are training elephants to help with the management of the local area. Trained elephants are now able to assist firefighter crews to put out forest fires, and prevent them from igniting. In the elephant conservation centre of Siak district, as many as 23 elephants have been trained to be ‘forest watchdogs’

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Elephant hospital set up in Way Kambas Lampung

2015-11-07 - Lampung, Indonesia.

Indonesia has set up a special hospital at Way Kambas Park in Lampung, Sumatra, to treat the Sumatran elephant. The elephant hospital named Prof Dr Ir Rubini Atmadijaja Hospital will also function as a facility for supporting conservation efforts, education and research on the Sumatran elephant, the parks public relations coordinator, Sukatmoko said here Saturday.

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Two rare Sumatran elephants found dead in Indonesia, poison suspected: official

2015-10-15 - BANDA ACEH, Indonesia.

Two critically-endangered Sumatran elephants have been found dead from suspected poisoning in Indonesia´s Aceh province, an official said on Thursday (Oct 15). Villagers found the carcasses of the female elephants, aged two and 15, bleeding from their mouths and rectums in the forest near Panggong village, in Aceh Jaya district, on Wednesday (Oct 14), local conservation agency chief Genman Suhefti Hasibuan told Agence France-Presse.

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Beloved Elephant Yongki Killed by Ivory Poachers, Sparks Outrage

2015-09-29 - Lampung, Indonesia.

According to AFP, it’s suspected that Yongki, a 35-year-old Sumatran elephant who helped patrol Indonesian jungles, died of poisoning at the hands of poachers. His maimed and bloodied body was found nearby a camp at the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park where he had lived.

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Endangered Sumatran elephant found butchered, tusks missing

2015-04-15 - Aceh, Indonesia.

A Sumatran elephant has been found shot dead in Indonesia with its tusks removed and its head badly mutilated, an official said Wednesday, the latest suspected attack by poachers on the critically-endangered animals. The carcass of the male elephant, aged around 20, was found Monday in a forest in Aceh province, on western Sumatra island, local conservation agency chief Genman Suhefti Hasibuan told AFP.

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Sumatran Elephant Found Dead in Riau

2014-06-27 - Riau, Indonesia.

A wild Sumatran elephant was found dead in a village in Riau, allegedly hunted and killed for its tusks, according to Antara. The elephant was found dead in Lubuk Kembang Bunga village in Pelalawan district last week. The elephant was part of a herd from Tesso Nilo National Park (TNTN). This case adds to the long list of elephant deaths in Riau due to hunting and conflict with humans. Forty-five elephants have died in Sumatra since 2012.

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Police apprehend elephant-killers in Sumatra

2014-05-01 - Aceh, Indonesia.

Eleven people were arrested on April 16 by West Aceh police for allegedly killing a Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus), in a forest six kilometers away from Teupin Panah village, Kaway XVI, in the West Aceh district. The suspects -- five from Ceumara village, one from Babah Lueng village, three from Seumantok village, and two from Teupin Panah village -- confessed to killing two elephants in Pante Ceuremen forest and one elephant in Kaway XVI over the course of a year.

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Row brewing over Indonesia"s "death zoo"

2014-02-05 - Surabaya, Indonesia.

A MALE giraffe died an agonising death at Indonesia´s Surabaya Zoo with 20 kg of plastic found in his stomach, in 2012. Three months later, a 30-year-old female elephant died after living with a broken leg for two years. So far this year, six animals have died at Indonesia´s largest zoo, in East Java province, including a protected 3-year-old Komodo dragon and an African lion called Michael, found with his head caught in a cable in his enclosure.

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Jokowi to name elephant calves in Raguna zoo

2014-02-04 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

Two new born elephants at Ragunan Zoo are waiting for Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to name them. On Dec. 2, 25-year-old Sumatran elephant Mulyani gave birth to a female calf, while on Oct. 20,Mulyani´s eldest daughter, Agustin, gave birth to a male calf. "We have given the calves temporary names until the governor names them," Ragunan Zoo spokesman Wahyudi Bambang said recently.

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Resort provides 160 acres for Bornean elephants

2013-10-04 - Kinabatangan, Indonesia.

Myne Resort has set aside 160 acres of land at Kampung Bilit, Lower Kinabatangan as an ecological corridor for the Bornean elephants. Myne Resort managing director, Ouh Mee Lan said that the Myne Resort was supportive of the effort undertaken by the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and the Borneo Conservation Trust (BCT) to enhance the ecological corridor for the Bornean elephants at the Lower Kinabatangan.

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Fossils Shed Light on Sangiran Hunters

2013-09-16 - Sangiran Dome, Indonesia.

Archaeologists in Central Java have discovered fossil evidence that prehistoric humans may have hunted a forerunner to the elephant that was twice the size of today’s pachyderms. The archaeologists also found several ball-shaped rocks near the stegodon fossil, which they have identified as weapons used for hunting.

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Trained elephant gives birth to female calf

2013-08-22 - Tesso Nilo, Indonesia.

A domesticated elephant, a member of the Flying Squad at the Tesso Nilo National Park gave birth to a female calf on Aug. 7. The calf is the fourth new member of the squad at the park located in Pelalawan regency, Riau.The calf, which has yet to be named, was delivered by its 35-year-old mother Ria.

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Orphaned calf Joe doing well

2013-07-11 - Kota Kinabalu, Indonesia.

Baby elephant Joe, the sole survivor of a poisoning that killed a herd of 14 Borneo pygmy elephants, is out of the woods. The calf has gained weight and is now socialising with other elephants at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park here. “He is very healthy and has gained over 100kg in the past few months, from 90kg when we rescued him, to almost 200kg now,” said Sabah Wildlife Department assistant director Dr Sen Nathan.

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Endangered Sumatran elephant born in captivity

2013-04-17 - CISARUA, Indonesia.

A baby Sumatran elephant peeps out timidly from between the legs of its mother at an Indonesian zoo, where her birth has given a boost to the critically endangered animal. Kartini, named after the country´s most celebrated feminist, Raden Ajeng Kartini, was born on Friday under a captive breeding programme and is in good health. The 105 kilogram (231 pound) elephant was born just south of the capital Jakarta, but the animal is native to Sumatra island, where its population has halved in on...

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DNA test to help save Sumatran elephants

2013-01-16 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia agreed on Monday to collaborate on molecular genetics-based research projects to conserve the Sumatran elephant, which has been listed as a critically endangered species. The DNA-based test can estimate the population of the Sumatran elephant and determine the distribution of the species.

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Endangered Sumatran elephant found dead in western Indonesia; 17th death in 9 months

2012-12-15 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

Indonesian police say an endangered Sumatran elephant has been found dead at a rubber plantation, apparently poisoned by poachers. It is the 17th Sumatran elephant found dead on the island of Sumatra since March. First Lt. Simson Purba of the local police says the plantation owner found the male elephant dying in East Aceh district Friday. Purba says the animal was dead by the time authorities arrived. It was about 5 years old and its left tusk had been stolen. Police are investigating the death...

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Endangered elephants ‘were poisoned’

2012-11-13 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

Three critically-endangered Sumatran elephants found dead in Indonesia´s Riau province were probably poisoned in a revenge attack by palm oil plantation workers, an official said on Monday. The decomposing carcases of the female elephants, including a year-old baby, were found in a jungly area just outside the Tesso Nilo National Park in Riau province on Saturday, park chief Kupin Simbolon told AFP.

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Riau Conservation Head Fatally Trampled by Elephant

2012-08-08 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia.

The head of the Riau Elephant Conservation Center died on Friday after being trampled by a 20-year-old elephant at the center’s Minas training center. M. Taat was checking the health of an elephant named Reno when the large animal attacked him, conservation division head of Natural Resources Conservation Center Riau Syahimin, told Antara news agency on Wednesday.

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Sumatran Elephants Swarm Village

2012-08-05 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

About 20 endangered Sumatran elephants entered Braja Indah village in Lampung, Indonesia yesterday in search of food. The villagers have been using torches and firecrackers in an attempt to herd the elephants away. A farmer from the same village was accidentally trampled to death in April and since then at 5 elephants have been poisoned. Read on for the full story.

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Morrissey calls for shut down of notorious Javan zoo

2012-05-08 - Surabaya, Indonesia.

The singer Morrissey has called on the Indonesian government to immediately shut down a notorious zoo in eastern Java where hundreds of animals have died or disappeared.

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Poisoned Sumatran elephant dies in Indonesian palm oil plantation

2012-05-01 - Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

A ranger says an endangered Sumatran elephant has died in a palm oil plantation in western Indonesia, apparently after being poisoned by villagers trying to protect their crops. Fewer than 3,000 of the animals are left in the wild and environmentalists warn they could be extinct within three decades unless steps are taken to protect them.

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Sumatran Wildlife at Risk: Animal Activists

2012-04-03 - Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

The unbridled destruction of Sumatra’s forests over the past 20 years is the main reason for the 44 percent decline in the Sumatran elephant population during that period, wildlife activists said on Monday. Donny Gunaryadi, the elephant program coordinator at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Indonesia program, said the wild elephant population on the island had dropped from around 5,000 in 1992 to just 2,800 today

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Elephant Hospital to Be Built in Lampung

2012-01-31 - Lampung, Indonesia.

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan broke new ground on Monday on the construction of Asia’s first elephant hospital, to be built in the Way Kambas National Park in Lampung. The 1,300-square-kilometer park is home to around 180 Sumatran elephants, a species that was last week listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

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Sumatran elephants driven closer to extinction:WWF

2012-01-25 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Sumatran elephant could be extinct in the wild in under 30 years unless immediate steps are taken to protect its rapidly diminishing habitat, environmental group WWF said on Tuesday. IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, raised its listing of the Sumatran elephant subspecies from "endangered" to "critically endangered" after nearly 70 percent of its habitat and halve its population has been lost in one generation.

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Sumatran elephants at Way Kambas national park

2011-09-21 - Way Kambas, Indonesia.

A picture made available on 21 September shows Indonesian mahouts take care their Sumatran elephants at the elephant conservation center in Way Kambas national park, Lampung province, Indonesia, 18 September 2011. At least 65 elephants are kept at Way Kambas elephant conservation center. The Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) is the smallest of the Asian elephants and suffers from from illegal logging and associated habitat loss and fragmentation in Indonesia.

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Rare elephant found dead in Indonesia: official

2011-03-28 - Riaou, Indonesia.

A rare Sumatran elephant has died in Indonesia after blocking a village street for a week, an official said Sunday. The female elephant was in a "weak condition" after becoming separated from its herd about a week ago in Bengkalis district, Riau province, conservation agency official Adit Gunawan told AFP. "It was hungry. We gave it food, water and medical attention. We tried our best to nurse it back to health but it wasn´t getting better and died on Saturday evening," he said.

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Biggest Animal Hospital to be Built

2010-10-25 - Lampung, Indonesia.

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said the central government will soon build the biggest animal hospital in South East Asia. The construction will begin in 2011 at the Way Kambas National Park, Lampung. "The architectural design has been completed and the hospital, intended for wild and domestic animals, can soon be realized,” said Zulkifli after launching the program "Plant One Billion Trees" in Lampung yesterday.

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Four Bali Parks Hope To Draw Tourists With Imported Elephants

2010-09-06 - Denpasar, Indonesia.

After last year’s failed attempt to ship in Komodo dragons, Bali now is looking at getting elephants from Sumatra to attract more tourists. Four conservation institutions in Bali on Tuesday requested 59 elephants from Way Kambas National Park in Lampung: 10 for the Elephant Safari Park in Taro, Gianyar district; 14 for Bali Zoo Park, also in Gianyar; 15 for Kasian in Badung; and 20 for Bakas Zoo in Klungkung district.

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Wild Elephant Found Dead in East Aceh

2010-07-12 - Aceh, Indonesia.

The corpse of a wild male elephant has been found near a palm plantation owned by PT Bumi Flora in East Aceh district, an official said on Monday. Ridwan, who serves at the Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), confirmed on Monday that the body of the elephant had been discovered by a local on Friday. “When I found the body, one of its tusks had been sawn off. I was informed that the elephant was poisoned deliberately,” Ridwan said.

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Ancient Elephant Unearthed in Java

2010-06-11 - Blora, Indonesia.

The residents of the small town of Blora, 105 kilometers from Semarang, were surprised earlier this year when the most intact fossilized elephant skeleton ever found in Indonesia was unearthed nearby, a senior archeologist said on Thursday. The recovery of the skeleton was completed last month and it has been taken to the Geology Museum in Bandung, said Suroso, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s director of archeological heritage.

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Two elephants found dead in Riau

2010-03-28 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia.

Two Sumatran elephants (Elephas Maximus Sumatranus) were found dead in the Tesso Nilo National Park, Riau province. "The two elephants are predicted to have died about a week ago and found in the national park," head of the Tesso Nilo national park Suprahman said here, Sunday. He said that the wild elephants were found dead in Air Hitam village, Pelalawan regency, Riau

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Poachers suspected in death of rare Sumatran elephant

2010-03-24 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

Poachers are suspected to have killed an endangered Sumatran elephant whose body was discovered by villagers with its tusks removed, Indonesian conservationists said Wednesday. We also found a stab wound on the right side of the chest, piercing through his liver," Mulyo Utomo from the nature conservation agency in Sumatras Riau province told AFP. The 10-year-old male elephants body was found in Petani village in Riau province.

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Herd of elephants takes over Indonesian village, residents flee

2010-03-21 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

A large herd of hungry elephants has taken over part of the Indonesian village of Petani on the island of Sumatra, forcing villagers to flee their homes, the countrys Antara news agency reported on Friday. The herd of some 45 elephants came into the village two weeks ago, though many have now returned back into the jungle.

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Four Bali Parks Hope To Draw Tourists With Imported Elephants

2010-02-09 - Jakarta, Indonesia. Made Arya Kencana

Denpasar. After last year’s failed attempt to ship in Komodo dragons, Bali now is looking at getting elephants from Sumatra to attract more tourists. Four conservation institutions in Bali on Tuesday requested 59 elephants from Way Kambas National Park in Lampung: 10 for the Elephant Safari Park in Taro, Gianyar district; 14 for Bali Zoo Park, also in Gianyar; 15 for Kasian in Badung; and 20 for Bakas Zoo in Klungkung district. The request was made at a meeting in Sanur, Bali, on elephants and...

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Elephant escapes from circus area, tramples girl

2010-01-25 - Muarojambi, Indonesia. The Jarkarta Post

A tamed elephant has escaped from a circus arena in Kumpeh Kasang village in the Jambi regency of Muarojambi, injuring a 10-year-old girl, Antara state news agency reported on Monday. Spokesman for the Jambi police Adj. Sr. Comr. Alhansyah said the elephant stepped on Maya, breaking the young spectator's left leg. Another spectator was sustained slight injurires after he fell to the ground during the commotion, Alhansyah added. The two victims were admitted to Raden Mataher Hospital in Jambi cit...

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Escaping flood, elephant herds approach villages in Riau

2009-12-16 - Riau, Indonesia.

Herds of Sumatran elephants have been closing in on villages in Riau following flooding in their natural habitat. Many of them enter residential areas and destroy palm and rice fields, Syahimin, a top official at the local Natural Resources Conservation Center, told Antara state news agency in Pekanbaru on Wednesday.

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On Flying Squad Patrol With Elephants in Indonesia"s Sumatra

2009-12-06 - , Indonesia. John M. Glionna

The compact 37-year-old Syamsuardi manages the Flying Squad, a herd of tame elephants that patrols the more-than-80,000-hectare Tesso Nilo National Park. Syamsuardi’s team is the brainchild of the World Wildlife Fund, which borrowed the idea from India. The goal: persuade the errant elephants to return to their sanctuary, where lethal run-ins with humans are less likely.

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Elephants destroy hectares of plantations in Riau

2009-11-28 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia.

A group of wild elephants have demolished hectares of plantations of palm oil and rubber and paddy fields in Pekan Tebih village, Kepenuhan Hulu district, Rokan Hulu regency, Riau province in the past three months, an official said Friday. The district chief Damri Poti revealed that the elephants have destroyed 10 hectares of the plantations, including two hectares of paddy fields.

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Bengkulus elephant population now only 150

2009-11-26 - Bengkulu, Indonesia.

The number of elephants existing in Bengkulu province, Sumatra, has been reduced from 225 to 150, a conservationist said. The declining number of Sumatran elephants in Bengkulu is due among others to illegal hunting, poisoning (due to conflict with locals) and unmanaged population outside the conservation areas, Supartono of Bangkulu`s Nature Conservation Agency (BKSDA), said here on Wednesday.

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Elephants run amok in Indonesia

2009-10-28 - Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

A herd of wild elephants damaged houses and devoured crops as they rampaged through an Indonesian village, terrifying residents, officials said Wednesday. The elephants charged villagers and ran amok on Tuesday night in the latest incident of animal-human conflict in Indonesia, where the jungles that serve as wildlife habitats are being rapidly destroyed. Officials responded by using five tame elephants to chase out the invaders.

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Floods, landslides kill three, elephant as thousands flee

2009-10-09 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

Flooding devastated Tenggamus regency, Lampung, on Monday, leaving two children dead, while another person and elephant were buried alive in a landslide as three other victims remained missing. The floods and landslides followed heavy rains in the last two days across the regency. The two children, five-year-old Suci Wulandari and six-year-old Rina, both residents from Semaka district, were drowned in the overflowing Way Kerap river. Their bodies were recovered late Sunday evening.

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Youtube: Elephant Birth at Elephant Safari Park at Taro, Bali

2009-10-02 - Taro, Indonesia. Nigel Mason, Safari Park at Taro, Bali

Graphic footage of the first ever elephant birth filmed in Bali, Indonesia. The founder of the Elephant Safari Park at Taro, Bali, Nigel Mason talks us through the experience.

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Fossil of ancient elephant on display in Indonesia

2009-10-02 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

An elephant fossil of 200,000 years old found in Indonesia in April went on display Tuesday, the Kompas.com news portal reported Wednesday. "The elephant fossil is more than 200,000 years old, the largest and the most complete one found in Indonesia," Head of Indonesian Geology museum Yunus Kusumabrata said. The Jurassic elephant was predicted to have a weight of 10 tons with a length of 5 meters from head to the tail and a height of up to 4 meters from the ground, he said.

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Wild elephants kill two in Sumatra

2009-09-28 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

At least two people were killed and hectares of oil palm plantations destroyed when a herd of wild elephants went on a rampage through a resettlement area in eastern Sumatra over the weekend, a media report said Monday.

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Ecotourism in Indonesia: Finding the Balance

2009-09-27 - Way Kambas, Indonesia. Zack Petersen

Indonesia walks a fine line when it comes to conservation and ecotourism. Dexter is four months old and weighs nearly 130 kilograms, he’s got eyelashes as thick as paint brushes and if you feed him sugar cane by hand he’ll be your best friend. Tika, who handles both Dexter and his mother, waves you closer to the four-meter-tall matron and her playful calf. Dexter swings his trunk and paws the ground like a bull. But he’s shy, he hides behind those lashes and the hanging belly of his mother...

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Way Kambas residents live in fear of elephants

2009-09-26 - Lampung, Indonesia.

Villagers around the Way Kambas National Park (TNWK) in Lampung have been living in a state of fear over the past few days due raging wild elephants destroying their crops. The herd of around 50 elephants has also damaged the residents' huts and chicken coops. Villagers are also gripped with fear because the elephants are no longer afraid of torches and bamboo drums, which were successfully used in the past to drive them away.

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Tussle Between Thirsty Elephants Leaves Two Girls Injured

2009-09-25 - Borobudur, Indonesia.

Two girls were injured when they fell off elephants jostling to quench their thirst on Friday morning at the north wing of the Borobudur Temple Tourism Park in Magelang, Central Java. Agus H Canny, marketing director of PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, operator of the internationally renowned park, confirmed that Ari Setyorini, 10, and Rahma Lila Utami, 11, fell off the backs of the elephants at around 10:30 a.m. on Friday. He said Ari fainted before reaching the hospital.

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Elephants trample plantation guard to death

2009-09-04 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia. Rizal Harahap

A horde of elephants have trampled to death a man guarding a palm oil plantation in the remote Sumatra hamlet of Lubuk Kandis, Riau. Rinto Lumbangaol, 27, was found dead by his wife Emiska, 25. Head of the Rengat Nature Conservation Agency Edi Susanto said Friday the newly wedded couple was asleep early on Thursday when about 15 elephants trampled their makeshift house near the plantation. Rinto asked his wife to run for help. When Emiska arrived with villagers from nearby, they found Rinto had ...

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Sumatran elephants on loan in Belgium

2009-08-22 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

The government has sent a pair of Sumatran elephants to Belgium to enliven the Indonesian Park in Parc Paradisio in the European country. Male elephant Valentino, 5 years old, and his partner Ani, 4, have become a center of attraction since their arrival on Aug. 17, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said. Indonesian Ambassador to Belgium Nadjib Riphat Kesoema received the elephants, which were resettled under a breeding loan program signed by the two countries.

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Elephant found dead in Indonesia"s park, tusks missing

2009-08-11 - Jakarta, Indonesia. Li Xianzhi

A male elephant has been found dead at a national park in Lampung province of Indonesia, and both of its tusks went missing, the provincial World Wild Fund (WWF) said on Tuesday. The two-year-old animal may have been killed by those on purpose to steal its tusks, Afrizal Khaidir a senior official of the WWF said. The elephant was found dead at its cage at the Way Kambas National Park on Friday, he said.

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Borneo pygmy elephants, planters battle for land

2009-02-23 - Sukau, Indonesia. Niluksi Koswanage

Deprived of access to his favorite food, a pygmy elephant trumpets furiously and charges at wildlife officials, a manifestation of this rare species' battle against Malaysia's key palm oil industry. Some herds of pygmy elephants, an endangered species according to conservation body the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), are thriving on the fruit of palm oil plantations that encroach on their domains on Borneo island.

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Baby elephant born in Indonesia

2009-02-13 - Bogor, Indonesia. Lindsay Barnett

The Sumatran elephant, a subspecies of the Asian elephant, is imperiled -- but its numbers (estimated by the World Wildlife Fund to be between 2,440 to 3,350) just got a much-needed, if tiny, boost. This little guy is 2 days old and lives in Indonesia's Safari zoo. While he's sure to grow substantially, Sumatran elephants are the smallest of the Asian elephant subspecies, of which there are four (the others are the Indian elephant, Sri Lankan elephant and Borneo elephant).

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First baby elephant born on Bali island causes aaaww of the day

2009-02-07 - Ubud, Indonesia.

A nine-day-old baby elephant sticks with his eighteen-year-old mother Tini at the Safari Park in Gianyar, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on February 2, 2009. The male Sumatran elephant baby, the 31st at the park, was born on January 24 to become the first baby elephant born on Bali island.

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Little Jumbo

2009-01-05 - Bogor, Indonesia. JP/Theresia Sufa

A 38-year-old Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) named Linda and her unnamed newborn calf are seen at Taman Safari Indonesia animal park in Cisarua, Bogor, on Sunday. The calf, a female weighing around 90 kilograms, is Linda's fourth calf since her first was born in 1995.

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Aceh authorities urged to deal with elephants running amok

2008-11-27 - Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

Local residents of Cot Pangee village have urged authorities in Aceh Jaya District to deal with elephants which have run amok and killed one villager. "I notice that despite a casualty and damages in hectares of crops, there is no effort to solve the elephant problem in Cot Pangee village," Saudi M Daud, an inhabitant of Aceh Jaya, told ANTARA here on Thursday. Since November 25, 2008, a herd of elephants have run amok in Cot Pangee village, around 130 km west of Banda Aceh. The herd killed a lo...

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Wild elephants kill one in Indonesia"s Aceh province

2008-11-26 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

A herd of wild elephants went on a rampage in Indonesia's north-westernmost province of Aceh, killing one person and destroying property, state-run media reported Wednesday. A herd estimated at 13 pachyderms entered Cot Pengee village in Aceh Jaya district during the past several days, forcing residents to flee their homes for safety. Antara news agency quoted local community leader Iskandar Musa saying residents tried to drive the wild animals away with traditional methods, such as making loud ...

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Wild elephants destroy oil palm tree owned by PT Agricinal

2008-10-25 - Bengkulu, Indonesia.

A group of wild elephants in the Seblat Elephant Training Center (PLG) broke loose and damaged 1,256 oil palm trees of PT Agricinal in Putri Hijau subdistrict, North Bengkulu regency, and a security post near the plantation. PLG Seblat coordinator Aswin Bangun said on Monday that the rampant illegal loggings and damage on the elephent training center had disturbed the elephants and eventually broke loose seeking for food.

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Lampung resident seriously injured by wild elephants

2008-10-18 - Bandarlampung, Indonesia.

A Lampung resident identified as Hasyim (30) was seriously injured after being trampled on by a herd of wild elephants at the Way Kambas National Park (TNKW) in East Lampung District, Lampung Province, on Friday. TNKW Director MZ Hudiyono here on Saturday confirmed that Hasyim, a resident of Rajabasa Lama village, East Lampung District, suffered serious injuries and was rushed to Bandarlampung General Hospital for intensive medical care after he was trampled down by wild elephants inside the 1,3...

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Elephant keeper from france visited medan zoo.

2008-10-15 - Medan, Indonesia. Rudianto Sembiring

On 5 october 2008 2 tourist from french come to medan zoo and when they walked arround medan zoo suddenly met with me .so i suprise that one of them is an elephant keeper in french zoo. His name Olivier. We sharing about animal husbandry. and i say thank's so much to them about change experience about animal welfare.

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Snares set by palm oil workers taking a toll on pygmy elephants of Borneo

2008-10-12 - Sabah, Indonesia.

Wildlife rangers are finding increasing numbers of Borneo Pygmy elephants injured or killed by snares set by poorly paid oil palm plantation workers, reports Malaysia's Sabah Wildlife Department. "We have a bigger issue of elephants getting injured mostly due to man-made snare traps then dying from their injuries," said Laurentius Ambu, Sabah Wildlife Department Director. "Besides being a cruel and inhumane way to kill wildlife it is also illegal and it leads to injuries and eventual death of no...

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Many jumbo casualties

2008-10-12 - Kota Kinabalu, Indonesia.

A growing number of elephants in the State are ending up injured or dead due to human-animal conflicts and this is worrying the Wildlife Department. Its Director, Laurentius Ambu, said a young elephant was found dead from unknown causes in early September. "But we have a bigger issue of elephants getting injured mostly due to man-made snares, then dying from their injuries," he said, in a statement. These traps are usually set by oil palm plantation workers who struggle for additional income by ...

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A mammoth problem of trained help

2008-09-25 - Temerloh, Indonesia. B.Suresh Ram

The elephant management unit of the Wildlife and National Parks Department is facing a problem of mammoth proportions. There is a shortage of tame decoy elephants to help in the transfer of wild elephants to wildlife preserves. The unit only has three tame elephants -- Loky Mala, Myan Thon Pyan and Mek Bunga. Unit chief Nasharuddin Othman said it would be difficult to move wild elephants without the help of decoy elephants.

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WWF demands official investigation into two elephants` deaths

2008-09-24 - Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

The Indonesian chapter of WWF (World Wildlife Fund) is asking Indonesian authorities to investigate the death of two Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) in Southeast Aceh district, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) province, a spokesman said. "This is important. To prevent a negative interpretation of what happened, the authorities should investigate the death of the two Sumatran elephants so that the cause of their death is clearly established," WWF Indonesia Deputy Team Leader Dede Su...

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New hope for Sumatra’s elephants and tigers as Indonesia doubles size of key national park

2008-09-14 - Tesso Nilo, Indonesia.

The government of Indonesia has declared its commitment to enlarging the most suitable block of forest for Sumatran elephants, expanding the vital Tesso Nilo National Park on Sumatra island to 86,000 hectares. "This is an important milestone toward securing a future for the Sumatran elephant and tiger," said Dr. Mubariq Ahmad, WWF-Indonesia's Chief Executive. “To ensure that the commitment is effectively implemented, we must redouble our efforts on the ground to eliminate poaching and ille...

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Studying the social structure of Bornean Elephant

2008-09-14 - KINABATANGAN, Indonesia.

There is much about the Bornean Elephant that is unknown, according to a conservationist in Sabah. “We do not yet understand their actual family structures and how group dynamics are,” said Nurzhafarina Othman, the conservation biologist at the Danau Girang Field Centre, who heads a new study which is the first on the social structure of the Bornean Elephant. Danau Girang is a field study centre located within the Kinabatangan. It is a collaborative project between the Sabah Wildlife Departm...

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Increasing elephant attacks in Aceh Jaya

2008-09-13 - Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

Elephant attacks have been occurring with increasing frequency in Pantee Purba/Ligan , Sampiniet sub district, Aceh Jaya District, during the past one month, local sources said. "Since they entered this region last August, the herds of wild elephants have destroyed crops on hectares of farm land," Abdul Hakim, a local farmer, told ANTARA on Saturday. Some 13 Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) were currently in the outskirts of Ie Jeureungeh village and in a forest bordering the SP-V...

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One Big Rubbish Bin

2008-08-18 - Way Kambas, Indonesia.

Today we visited a National Park here in Southern Sumatra. ‘Way Kambas’ hosts five endangered mammals - elephants, Sumatran Tigers, Sun Bears, tapirs and the Sumatran rhino. The facilities for the elephants are not so flash. The idea behind the creation of the Elephant Training Centre was to remove wild elephants that were threatening local villages and to train them to work in logging and tourism. Kids go for rides on a few of these beautful creatures, while those not working graze nearby.

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Indonesians threaten to poison elephants

2008-08-05 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

Indonesian villagers threatened on Tuesday to poison rare wild elephants that are destroying their palm oil plantations in search of food. "The residents are so angry and have said they will put poison around the plantation areas to kill the elephants unless officials take quick action," said Jambo Dalem village chief Teungku Baili. He said he had warned officials in Trumon Timur district of Sumatra's Aceh province, but nothing had been done to protect the plantations. A herd of eight elephants ...

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Pygmy jumbos collared

2008-07-18 - SANDAKAN, Indonesia.

Three Borneo pygmy elephants in Kinabatangan were fitted with satellite collars last week, marking the start of an inaugural study on the social structure of the elephants. Danau Girang Field Centre conservation biologist Nurzhafarina Othman said that studies on the genetic aspects of the elephant had been carried out but their social structure was virtually unknown. “The collaring of the elephants will ease our access to them. The bulk of the study will be done through fieldwork with the Elep...

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Indonesia, Belgium cooperate in elephant conservation

2008-06-23 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

Belgium has asked two female elephants from Indonesia to be bred at Parc Paradisio sanctuary park, in Belgium. Parc Paradisio`s management has developed an international-standard elephant cage to accommodate Indonesia`s elephants, a press statement of the Indonesian forestry ministry said here on Monday. Parc Paradisio also invited an Indonesian delegation to visit the zoo accommodating various endangered animals. Indonesia, in return, has asked the assistance of Parc Paradisio in managing sever...

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The elephant posse rides again

2008-04-30 - Tesso Nilo, Indonesia.

The Flying Squad, a conservation team that escorts stray wild elephants back to the safety of Central Sumatra's forests, searches for pachyderms in Tesso Nilo. Shrinking forest habitat on the Indonesian island threatens the dwindling wild elephant herd.

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Elephants Training in Riau, Indonesia

2008-04-26 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia. Mengenai Saya

At Sebanga-Duri that interval estimate from Pekanbaru City is 139 kilometers founded training and taming center for elephant at Riau Province. As one of attractive tourism objects at Riau found there is give some, entertain that seeing attraction and demonstration of elephants. As wild animal, elephant can tame at Sebanga School for Elephants. The elephants can attract as like: salute to visitor, step over big size of pieces of wood that was pile, pull up piece of wood using it trunk, step over ...

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Tour Garden Bumi Kedaton - Batu Putuk

2008-04-04 - Way Kambas , Indonesia.

Lampung has long been as the Land of Elephants and Way Kambas as the best known as elephant training center. But don't imagine that getting there is easy these days. Getting to the National Park takes at least two hours from the center of town, on a road in terrible condition. This trip is only for the truly adventurous, or tourists with a lot of time on theirs hands. But don't worry - now there's Taman Wisata Bumi Kedaton (Bumi Kedaton Tourism Park), located in Batu Putuk area, only 20 minutes ...

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Wild elephants destroy hundreds of oil palm trees in Indonesia

2008-04-01 - Bengkulu, Indonesia. Ria

A group of wild elephants in the Seblat Elephant Training Center (PLG) broke loose and damaged 1,256 oil palm trees of PT Agricinal in Putri Hijau subdistrict, North Bengkulu regency, and a security post near the plantation. PLG Seblat coordinator Aswin Bangun said on Monday that the rampant illegal loggings and damage on the elephant training center had disturbed the elephants and eventually broke loose seeking for food. The damaged oil palm trees not only belonged to PT Agricinal, but also to ...

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Wild elephants damage oil palm, food crop plantations in Aceh

2008-03-17 - Tapaktuan, Indonesia.

A herd of wild elephants again encroached on human settlements in Trumon Timur sub district, South Aceh District, where they damaged commercial and food crop plantations. "The problem of elephant attacks is continuing. The villagers have been restless for more than three weeks due to the behavior of the protected animals," T. Masrizar, a resident of Trumon, said here on Monday. Meanwhile, Naca Village Head Ramli Hajnur said a herd of four wild elephants had attacked and damaged tens of hectares ...

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Elephant flying squad celebrates new members

2008-03-06 - Tesso Nilo National Park, Indonesia.

In Riau Province, the flying squad are four adult elephants and eight mahouts patrolling an area along the National Park boundaries, keeping wild elephants away from local communities and teaching villagers non-lethal ways to protect their crops. About 80 guests helped Nella celebrate her 1st birthday while Wan Abu Bakar, Vice Governor of Riau Province, officially conferred the name Tesso on the younger calf, born three months ago. It is a tradition in Indonesia to have a naming ceremony soon af...

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Wild elephants destroy hundreds of hectares of people`s plantation

2008-03-02 - Tapaktuan, Indonesia. ANTARA News

Three of wild elephants were reported to have trampled down hundreds of hectares of plantation area belonging to the residents of Kapa Sesak and Naca villages in Trumon sub-district, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD). "Since the last one week, the wild giant animals have destroyed hundreds of hectares of residential plantation in some villages," head of the Trumon sub-district administration H Lahmudin said here on Sunday. According to him, a band of wild elephants destroyed hundreds of hectares of...

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Tush on a tusk

2008-03-01 - Riau, Indonesia.

A Sumatran elephant gives his trainer a lift at an elephant preserve in Minas, Indonesia's Riau Province.

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A trainer leads a Sumatran elephant on a walk during morning practice at the Elephant Training Centre in Minas

2008-02-29 - Beawiharta, Indonesia.

The Sumatran elephant, the smallest of the Asian elephants, is facing serious pressures arising from illegal logging and rapid forest conversion to palm oil plantations. As forests shrink, elephants are increasingly closer to fields and cultivated land, generating conflict with humans that often result in the death of the elephants by poisoning or capture, according to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report in 2007. The Minas Elephant Training Centre protects more than 40 elephants from around 200 e...

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Pulp and palm oil the villains in Sumatra"s global climate impact and local elephant losses

2008-02-26 - Riau, Indonesia.

Pekanbaru, Sumatra: Turning just one Sumatran province's forests and peat swamps into pulpwood and palm oil plantations is generating more annual greenhouse gas emissions than the Netherlands and rapidly driving the province's elephants into extinction, a new study by WWF and partners has found.

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Elephants outsmarting humans on Indonesia"s Sumatra--report

2008-01-07 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

A herd of wild elephants on Indonesia's Sumatra has repeatedly outsmarted efforts to stop them stealing crops, wising up to attempts to chase them off with burning torches, a report said Monday. The head of Way Kambas natural reserve in Lampung province, Hudiono, told the state-run Antara news agency that a herd of 25 to 30 elephants had been nightly roaming out of the reserve to raid crops since Thursday. The elephants, previously only occasional visitors, have managed to clamber over earthen e...

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Baby Elephant Joins Struggling Herd in Sumatra. Endangered Asian Elephants Welcome Baby to Their Family

2007-12-24 - Tesso Nilo National Park, Indonesia.

On Dec. 11, 2007, "World News with Charles Gibson" correspondent Nick Watt introduced us to the World Wildlife Fund's Flying Squad — a group of five trained elephants that are working to help save the endangered Asian elephants in Tesso Nilo National Park in central Sumatra. We are happy to report that, since then, the Flying Squad welcomed its sixth member — a baby elephant named Saree, born just in time for the holidays.

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ELEPHANTS ON PATROL. Preserving a Shrinking Population

2007-12-11 - Tesso Nilo National Park, Indonesia. Adam Tomasek, World Wildlife Fund

The World Wildlife Fund inspects damage to a village home in Sumatra. A woman was asleep in the bedroom with her husband and baby son when a wild elephant crashed into their kitchen. Here villagers clear land for palm oil and food crops. But in other areas farmers have burned much of the elephants' habitat to make coffee sold in Europe and North America. The elephants must struggle to survive alongside humans, who see them as a dangerous nuisance.

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Students respond to conservation SOS with WWF

2007-12-09 - Jakarta, Indonesia. Kurniawan Hari

Save Our Species (SOS) is an educational campaign for elementary to high school students grouped in the WWF Junior Conservationist program. This year, the campaign centers on efforts to save the Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) and Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae), two endangered, indigenous species. About 120 students from several schools took part in the Nov. 24 event.

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Elephants attack plantation areas in Aceh

2007-10-13 - Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

A herd of Sumatran elephants (Elephas Maximus Sumatranus) recently again encroached on a residential area and attacked plantations at Patek, Sampoiniet, Aceh Jaya District, Aceh Province. Rahmatullah, a settler in the Patek transmigration area, said here on Tuesday the elephants` attack happened around a week before the Idul Fitri Islamic festivity. A herd of around eight elephants almost every evening approached the resettlement area, he said.

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Elephants attack plantation areas in Aceh

2007-10-13 - Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

A herd of Sumatran elephants (Elephas Maximus Sumatranus) recently again encroached on a residential area and attacked plantations at Patek, Sampoiniet, Aceh Jaya District, Aceh Province. Rahmatullah, a settler in the Patek transmigration area, said here on Tuesday the elephants` attack happened around a week before the Idul Fitri Islamic festivity. A herd of around eight elephants almost every evening approached the resettlement area, he said.

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Indonesia seeks ways to save Sumatran elephants, tigers from extinction

2007-09-04 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

Efforts to save Sumatran elephants and tigers from extinction gathered steam in Indonesia on Friday, with government officials and experts vowing to find ways to protect the species' dwindling habitat from loggers and farmers. More than 100 people were taking part in the three-day meeting that wraps up Friday. There is a very real danger that Sumatran elephants (and tigers) could become extinct in our lifetime if we don't come to agreement at this workshop, said Christy Williams of the World Wil...

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Elephant population in Sumatra down 35%

2007-08-31 - Bandarlampung, Indonesia.

The population of Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) in 2007 is estimated to reach between 2,400 and 2,800 heads, or a decrease by 35 percent from the figure in 1992 when there were 5,000 heads, according to an NGO activist. Some factors which caused the elephant population to drop included deforestation, poaching and human encroachment to the animal`s habitats, Elisabet Purastuti, coordinator of the Elephant Conservation Program of the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)-Indonesia, sa...

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Indonesia seeks plan to save rare tigers, elephants

2007-08-29 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

More than 100 experts and officials met in Indonesia on Wednesday to try to draft an action plan to save Sumatran elephants and tigers threatened with extinction. Satellite images show large areas of lowland tropical forests, the primary habitat for elephants and tigers, have been cleared on Sumatra island mainly due to farming and logging, the WWF conservation group said. Between 1990 and 2000, a total of 8 million hectares (20 million acres) of lowland forests have been lost to development, th...

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Asia: Elephant rage claims dozens of lives in Indonesian villages

2007-08-09 - Ulu Semong, Indonesia. EIKI YANO

Elephants are renowned for their gentle characters. But they become brutal under certain conditions. That is how 50-year-old Mujarianto, from the farming village of Ulu Semong on Sumatra Island, is likely to remember them for the remainder of his days. In late May, the coffee farmer fled his house with his eldest daughter, 17, as a herd of rampaging elephants stormed toward the cabin. But his 35-year-old wife and 3-year-old daughter were unable to escape. The elephants caught the pair with their...

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Elephant and tiger population in West Sumatra down

2007-07-12 - Padang, Indonesia.

The population of tiger and elephant in West Sumatra`s 21 conserved forests has continued to decrease due to illegal logging activities and human encroachment. We don`t have the exact number of their current population. However, we believe that the number has tended to drop over the last five years, Indra Arinal, the head of the West Sumatra Natural Resource Conservation Office, said here on Thursday. He estimated that the population of tiger in West Sumatra Province was currently about 50 heads...

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Underpaid trainers stay dedicated to elephant care

2007-07-10 - Way Kambas, Indonesia. Oyos Saroso

Suffering is shared by both the dozens of wild novices in the Elephant Training Center (PLG) of Way Kambas in East Lampung regency as well as their tamers. The difference is that while most of the elephants are emaciated and sickly, the trainers are well excepting their meager pay. The elephant trainers have had to make do with a monthly salary of only Rp 550,000 in the last two years. Before that, they received just Rp 350,000 a month, which frequently came in very late.

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Elephants kill mother and daughter in Indonesia

2007-05-28 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

Wild elephants trampled a woman and her child to death on Indonesia's Sumatra island, an official said on Monday. A herd of several elephants descended on a village just outside the Bukit Barisan Selatan national park on Saturday and attacked residents, said Lusman Pasaribu, the head of the park. Police and forest rangers later found the bodies of the woman and her three-year-old daughter.

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Elephants go on the rampage in Indonesia

2007-05-08 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

Two residents were injured after they were trampled by two wild elephants that went on a rampage in Indonesia's eastern Sumatra province of Riau, a local media report said on Tuesday. The incident took place on Sunday in Palas village of Pelelawan district when two rubber farmers were trampled by a couple of wild elephants. The beasts have periodically gone on rampages through the farm lands, the state-run Antara news agency reported.

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Elephants go on the rampage in Indonesia

2007-05-08 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

Two residents were injured after they were trampled by two wild elephants that went on a rampage in Indonesia's eastern Sumatra province of Riau, a local media report said on Tuesday. The incident took place on Sunday in Palas village of Pelelawan district when two rubber farmers were trampled by a couple of wild elephants. The beasts have periodically gone on rampages through the farm lands, the state-run Antara news agency reported.

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Mammoth fossil found in Java

2007-04-28 - Sragen, Indonesia.

A resident has discovered fossilized mammoth bones near where the fossil of a prehistoric crocodile was discovered at the Sangiran excavation site on Java on April 20. According to Gunawan, the fossilized mammoth (Stegodon trigonocephalus) was found by Daryanto, a resident of Dayu village in Gondangrejo district, Karanganyar regency. Gunawan, a staff member at the Sangiran Agency for the Preservation of Ancient Sites, said this latest discovery took place April 22, but was only reported to his o...

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Sumatra to relocate people from killer elephants

2007-04-25 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

The local Government in Indonesia will move about 10,000 people living in Bukit Barisan National Park, a protected habitat for the animals whose numbers on the island are fast diminishing. Villagers in the past have co-existed with the elephants in the 363,000ha park which has been declared a World Heritage Site.

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Squatters to be moved to avoid human-elephant conflict

2007-04-20 - Lampung, Indonesia. Oyos Saroso H.N

The Lampung provincial government has announced plans to relocate residents of villages that have been attacked by elephants from South Bukit Barisan National Park. Wild elephants have killed seven people in the West Lampung and Tanggamus regencies in the last year, as well as destroying villages and crops.

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Elephant kills its trainer at Indonesian tourist resort

2007-04-12 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

An elephant has trampled its longtime trainer Koidin, 40, who died of severe head of chest injuries, at a tourist resort in the Indonesian province of Central Java, local media reported Thursday. The incident occurred Wednesday afternoon at a resort in Tegal district, about 300 kilometres east of Jakarta, reported detik.com online news service.

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Wild elephants kill two in Indonesias Sumatra island

2007-03-13 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

A herd of wild elephants have killed two people and destroyed several homes during the past week in the south of Indonesia's Sumatra island, officials said Tuesday. Six pachyderms trampled to death one resident and destroyed several homes on Monday night in Suoh village in West Lampung regency, Edward Rahadian with the Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA) in Lampung province said. But Monday night's fatality was the second caused by the wild elephants in West Lampung regency in the past ...

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A Flying Squad Elephant Gave Birth at Tesso Nilo

2007-03-12 - Tesso Nilo National Park, Indonesia.

Starting from February 23, the Flying Squad has had a new member since Lisa, one of Flying Squad female elephants had given a birth. Lisa and her baby are both fine. On that Friday morning, Lisa's mahout who was in charged to take Lisa to bath from the site where she was tied the night before, to his surprise saw Lisa was with a new companion, her cute baby. The scene was about 1.5 km away from the Flying Squad camp.

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Tens of elephants run amuck in Jambi

2007-02-27 - Jambi, Indonesia.

Tens of wild elephants ran amuck and destroyed at least 30 farming huts and plantation areas at the Kerinci Seblat National Park (TNKS), Kerinci District, Jambi Province, Sumatra, on Monday. The elephants were disturbed by human encroachment in their habitat in the national park, Amirsyam, a spokesman of the Kerinci District administration, said here on Tuesday.

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Illegal logging threatens Rhinos, tigers, elephants

2007-01-21 - Bandar Lampung, Indonesia.

Continuing illegallogging in South Bukit Barisan National Park in Lampung andBengkulu provinces has threatened habitats of rare animals likerhinos, tigers, and elephants. "If there is no concrete action to stop such illegalpractices, tigers, rhinos, and elephants in the park will comeinto extinction," said official of World Wildlife Fund for Nature(WWF) Indonesia di Lampung Nurcholis Fadhli Sunday.

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Sumatrensis elephant gives birth to female offspring

2007-01-19 - Jakarta, Indonesia. ANTARA News

The Sumatran elephant (elephas maximus sumatrensis, sp) in Minas conservation area in Siak district, Riau province, gave birth to a female offspring last week, an official of Sinarmas Forestry conservation division said. "Malina (29)`s baby elephant born on January 9 is like a special New Year present. With the birth of the baby elephant named Bubu, number of the endangered animals in Minas area increased to 9. Bubu was conceived for 22 months.

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WWF: Coffee threatens Indonesian animals

2007-01-17 - JAKARTA, Indonesia.

Coffee beans exported to the West are being illegally grown inside an Indonesian national park, threatening the habitat of endangered tigers, elephants and rhinos, the WWF said Wednesday. "If this trend of clearing park land for coffee isn‘t halted, the rhinos and tigers will be locally extinct in less than a decade," Nazir Foead, WWF-Indonesia‘s Director of Policy and Corporate Engagement, said in a statement.

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Two Sumatran elephants poisoned

2006-12-22 - 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.

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Wild elephants run amok in Jambi

2006-11-29 - Jambi, Indonesia.

Six wild elephants have devastated hundreds of hectares of oil palm trees belonging to local smallholders in Tebo regency, Jambi. Most of the damage to the farms, located near Bukit Tigapuluh National Park in Sumay district, has been done at night, residents say. "The attacks usually start with the elephants 'crying' to each other. There is nothing we can do (to drive away the beasts)," said Bujang.

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Bali: Australian woman gored by elephant

2006-11-06 - Denpassar, Indonesia.

An Australian woman is recovering in Royal Darwin Hospital after being gored by an elephant in Bali. Western Australian woman Robyn Paki says she is lucky to be alive after she was picked up by an elephant she had been riding on and flung into the air last Thursday. Her two children saw the attack. Mrs Paki was resuscitated by a family friend after she stopped breathing.

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21 elephants dead this year in Indonesias Sumatra: WWF

2006-11-03 - JAKARTA, Indonesia.

Twenty-one wild elephants on Indonesia's Riau islands have died in the first 10 months of this year, raising further concerns of rapid declines of the animal, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) conservation group has warned. Of the total, 15 died of poisoning and gunshot wounds resulting from "conflicts with humans in residential areas," said Dudi Rufendi, program manager for WWF in Riau.

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Wild elephants kill farmer, destroy houses on Indonesia"s Sumatra island

2006-10-31 - PEKANBARU, Indonesia.

Indonesia Wild rampaging elephants trampled a farmer to death and destroyed several houses in a village on Indonesia's Sumatra island, witnesses said Tuesday. The people of Lubuk Embut, a village on Riau province 900 kilometers (600 miles) northwest of the capital Jakarta, have been terrorized over the last few days by a herd of around 20 starving elephants in search of food, said Jayok, a village chief who goes by a single name.

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12 wild elephants ran amuck in two Aceh villages

2006-10-30 - Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

At least 12 wild elephants ran amuck in two villages in Trumon Timur sub-district in Aceh Selatan district recently, an official said. The wild elephants trampled down paddies and plantations, and also damaged clean water pipes in Naca village, Trumon Timur sub-district chief Said Azhar said in Trumon on Monday.

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Indonesia to deploy soldiers to help extinguish haze-producing fires

2006-10-17 - JAKARTA, Indonesia.

Indonesia Brush fires that have sent a gray haze over neighboring Malaysia and Singapore scattered rare elephants in an Indonesian forest Tuesday, as the government prepared to have soldiers fight the blazes, officials said. The fires on Tuesday continued to ravage more than 200 hectares (500 acres) of conservation area for Sumatran elephants at the Tesso Nilo National Park and had forced some of the animals to wander on lands bordering with settlements.

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Aceh elephants running wild

2006-10-11 - BANDA ACEH, Indonesia.

Wild elephants who are losing their natural habitat are encroaching on residential areas in Trumon Timur, southern Aceh, destroying hectares of crops, when three elephants came down on a rice field and destroyed the crops. The frequency of elephant incursions into human settlements has increased over the past two weeks after the Leuser International Foundation withdrew two trained elephants that had been used to scare away the local elephants.

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Two Wild Elephants Enter Indonesian City Pekanbaru, Responding to habitat loss from brush fires

2006-09-03 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia. Aloysius Wisnuhardana

The residents of Pekanbaru, capital of Riau, a province in Indonesia on the island of Sumatra, were in an uproar after two wild male elephants entered the city last Thursday night. Two-and-a-half hours later, and after much effort, the two elephants were evacuated and taken to the Elephant Training Center in Minas, Riau. It is hoped the giant animals will adapt to the new environment.

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Farmers killed by wild elephants in Sumatra

2006-08-21 - Lampung, Indonesia.

Wild elephants ran amok and trampled to death four farmers on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The farmers were killed in Lampung province, about 200km (125 miles) northwest of Jakarta, the capital. Waktre, an elephant conservationist at the Lampung Wildlife Conservation Society, said that the cause was a shortage of food for the elephants and more human encroachment into wilderness set aside for the animals.

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Success! Captured Sumatran elephants released into Tesso Nilo National Park and commitment in place to expand their habitat

2006-05-14 - Tesso Nilo, Indonesia. WWF

On 14 May eight endangered Sumatran elephants were released into Tesso Nilo National Park, seven weeks after they were found chained to trees without food or water in central Riau, Indonesia. Local forestry officials had captured the elephants after they had damaged crops and homes near Libo Forest. WWF, which provided daily care and medical treatment for the elephants after their discovery, accompanied the authorities as they released the elephants to ensure that the release was done safely.

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Population of Sumatra elephants decreases

2006-04-17 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia.

Environmentalists have urged the Indonesian Government to investigate irregularities in elephant catching procedures which have caused a number of elephants had died in the past few years.According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia, the Riau Administration had caught 201 wild elephants since 2000, and at least 46 of the animals had been killed due to inappropriate procedures in relocating them, Media Indonesia daily reported here on Monday.

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Six elephants killed by poison in Sumatra

2006-03-02 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

Six wild Sumatran elephants found dead with blackened mouths on the jungle floor of Mahato, Riau province, on Indonesia's Sumatra island, were believed to have been poisoned, a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) official said on Thursday. "We have a strong belief that they were all poisoned," Desmarita Murni, WWF communications officer for species programmes, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, adding that the WWF planned to perform an autopsy later on Thursday to find out exact details on how and who migh...

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Villagers" houses destroyed by tens of wild elephants in Riau

2006-02-24 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia.

At least 51 wild elephants destroyed a number of villagers houses and over tens hectares of palm oil plantation area at Balai Raja, Bengkalis District, Riau in the past two days. Two villagers were hurt in the attacks by wild elephants, Balai Raja Village Head Samudji AMP told ANTARA News here Friday. In the past two months, at least five times the wild elephants ran amok, he said.

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Two elephants shot dead in BANDARLAMPUNG

2006-01-02 - Lampung, Indonesia.

Illegal poaching claimed the lives of two elephants that were found shot and their tusks removed in Tanggamus regency in Lampung, just a few kilometers from the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park. "The carcasses were left to rot and their tusks taken," said Andoyo, an environmentalist in Tanggamus, on Friday. It is thought the elephants were shot last week.

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Satellite Peek Into Mysterious Life Of Borneo"s Pygmy Elephants

2005-12-18 - Borneo, Indonesia.

The same satellite system used by the U.S. military to track vehicle convoys in Iraq is helping World Wildlife Fund shed light on the little-known world of pygmy elephants in Borneo. This week marks the six-month anniversary of the first pygmy elephant's being captured and outfitted with a collar that can send GPS locations to WWF daily via satellite. Now, for the first time, the public can track the movements of the elephants online through an interactive web map at www.worldwildlife.org/borneo...

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Elephants attack Aceh fruit plantations

2005-09-30 - Jakarta, Indonesia. Nani Afrida

It has been almost a month since Sakdani had a good night's sleep; before he began staying up into the early hours of the morning to protect his banana plantation from rampaging elephants. "If I fall asleep my entire banana plantation will be destroyed by the elephants," a weary Sakdani told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

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Wild elephants attack oil palm plantation in Indonesia

2005-09-06 - Bengkulu, Indonesia.

A herd of 50 wild elephants destroyed around 500 hectares of oil palm and rubber plantations in Muko-Muko district, Bengkulu province, Indonesia, over the past week. The wild elephants attacked oil palm and rubber plantations at any time at night, Antara news agency quoted Maskur, a resident of Pondok Suguh village, as saying on Monday.

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Sumatra elephants in danger: expert

2005-09-05 - Riau, Indonesia.

Expert has called on Indonesian government to step in to save Sumatra elephants whose population is dwindling in recent years. "Protection measures are urgent as the elephant population is decreasing rapidly in number," Wisnu Wardhana, a zoo and wild animal consultant from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), was quoted Monday by The Jakarta Post newspaper as saying.

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Borneo"s pygmy elephants get satellite-tracking help

2005-08-16 - Borneo, Indonesia.

Newly discovered pygmy elephants in Borneo are being outfitted with transmitters to allow orbiting satellites to track them as they migrate through dense rain forest mountains. Experts use dart guns to tranquilise the pachyderms, which are then outfitted with tag collars, according to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) spokesman Stefan Ziegler. Each tag, a grey, brick-like device strapped around the elephant's neck, will transmit its whereabouts to a satellite three times a day for 18 months until the ba...

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Elephants attack Jambi villages

2005-07-31 - JAMBI, Indonesia.

A group of elephants from Bukit Tigapuluh National park attacked nearby villages in the last six months, destroying some 15,000 hectares of rubber and oil palm plantations in the area. No one was injured in the rampage. "Around 30 elephants attacked the plantations because they can't find their food in the national park area," Warsi environment organization Bukit Tigapuluh program coordinator Dicky Kurniawan said on Thursday.

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Pygmy elephants may be relocated

2005-06-12 - Kota Kinabalu, Indonesia.

It may be necessary to relocate Sabah's pygmy elephants if they are to survive. Deputy State Wildlife Department Director Laurentius Ambu said such options could help reduce the number of elephants in certain "hotspots," hence allowing better control. Hotspots are where plantations or even villages are located close to wildlife reserves or forests.

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Elephants trample farmers to death

2005-04-01 - Jakarta, Indonesia.

Wild elephants trampled three farmers to death in a national park on Indonesia's Sumatra island, as the villagers scavenged for lumber left behind by illegal loggers, a government official said on Friday.

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Fair to use elephants in tsunami cleanup? Handlers say they enjoy work, activists fear injuries

2005-02-17 - Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Chris Brummitt, Associated Press

Rachmat has a nasty gash on his leg from walking over broken glass. Marni has a forehead laceration from bumping up against things. Their fellow workers are also nursing cuts and scrapes. Since the Asian elephants began helping clear debris in Indonesia’s Aceh province after the Dec. 26 tsunami, they have picked up minor on-the-job injuries. Officials and trainers say none of the wounds are serious, but conservationists and animal welfare activists say the endangered elephants shouldn’t be w...

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Tetanus vaccines rushed to elephants clearing tsunami-hit Banda Aceh

2005-02-10 - SINGAPORE, Indonesia. DPA

Tetanus vaccines are being rushed from the Singapore Zoo to tsunami-battered Banda Aceh, Indonesia, where elephants helping in the cleanup are at risk of tetanus, a deadly muscle-stiffening disease, wildlife officials said on Wednesday.

After more than a month spent clearing shattered homes and picking up belongings, the tired animals trudge back to camp daily after six- hour shifts often with wounds from nails, glass and mangled metal.

Their veterinarian, Dr. Chris...

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Banda Aceh Elephants join jumbo-sized clean-up chore

2005-01-28 - Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Mark Forbes

The elephants let out a mournful roar with each effort, clearing fallen trees and crushed cars, and exposing more bodies a month after the tsunami swept away much of Banda Aceh.

Trained in basic circus tricks, they wrap their trunks around fallen trees or shift small trucks, one pushing, one pulling.

Aceh's conservation chief, Andi Basrul, flew back to Banda Aceh the morning after the wall of water struck to find his house gone, along with his wife and son. He reali...

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Indonesian Elephants in danger

2005-01-12 - Sumatra, Indonesia. Daniel Hoare

DEFORESTATION and an increase in ivory hunting will follow the Sumatran tsunami in the coming months as a displaced Aceh population searches for new forms of income.

In Melbourne yesterday, southeast Asian wildlife experts Joe Heffernan and Matt Hunt arrived to highlight the urgency of wildlife preservation projects in the devastated region.

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Elephants aid in disaster relief

2005-01-03 - Banda Aceh, Indonesia. CNN

They may not carry the title "man's best friend," but elephants are providing priceless help as Indonesia struggles to recover from the tsunamis that killed more than 94,000 in that country alone and leveled entire towns. In Aceh province, Indonesia's ground zero, the gentle giants are doing the work of both man and machine. "The elephants help us evacuate survivors or bodies that could possibly be trapped under the rubble as heavy equipment has still not been able to get here," said Zaenal of t...

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Experts Split Over New Human, maybe not elephant hunters

2004-10-29 - Flores, Indonesia. Anna Salleh, ABC Science Online

The newly discovered Hobbit-like humans were not intelligent enough to have made the tools found with them, or hunted elephants, says an expert in human evolution. And they behaved more like chimpanzees. Colin Groves of the Australian National University said so after studying pictures of the tools excavated with the newly discovered hominid Homo floresiensis.

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Sabah CM orders full report on killing of jumbo

2004-10-28 - KOTA KINABALU, Indonesia. MUGUNTAN VANAR

The Sabah Wildlife Department has been ordered to give a full report on last month’s killing of an endangered Borneo Pygmy elephant to Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman.

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Dwarf hominid (Homo floresiensis) lived in Indonesia just 18,000 years ago in the company of pygmy Stegodon elephants and giant lizards.

2004-10-27 - Flores, Indonesia. Rex Dalton, Nature

A new human-like species - a dwarfed relative who lived just 18,000 years ago in the company of pygmy elephants and giant lizards - has been discovered in Indonesia.

Skeletal remains show that the hominins, nicknamed 'hobbits' by some of their discoverers, were only one metre tall, had a brain one-third the size of that of modern humans, and lived on an isolated island long after Homo sapiens had migrated through the South Pacific region.

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Borneo Bull elephant killed for tusks

2004-10-27 - KOTA KINABALU, Indonesia. MUGUNTAN VANAR

A Borneo Pygmy elephant was shot dead and butchered for its ivory tusks a month ago near the Tabin Wildlife Forest reserve.

The endangered bull elephant, weighing 2.5 tonnes and 2.6m tall, was shot thrice in the head and had its tusks, each weighing about 14kg, removed. The hind legs were also butchered for meat sometime between Sept 25 and 26.

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Newborn Elephant

2003-06-20 - Bogor, Indonesia. REUTERS/Supri

Inul, a Sumatran elephant born early this morning at Taman Safari park south of Jakarta, stands close to her mother Linda in her pen at the park June 20, 2003. Inul was named after the famous Indonesian singer and dancer know for her wild gyrations during her performances. The wild population of the Sumatran elephant is estimated to be around 600, down from more than 3,000 10 years ago.

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24 years on Internet!

ELEPHANT NEWS was created on 2001 in Munich, and relaunched in Phnom Penh in 2020, with almost 8 000 links to news articles about elephants on the Internet. A number of articles now also have a cross reference to the elephant database, either for individuals elephants and/or to an article about the location holding