Four Riau Elephants Die In Past Three Months

Pekanbaru, Riau, Apr 4 (ANTARA) - Four elephants died in Riau over the past three months, bringing to 43 the number of elephant deaths in the province since 2007. "The death of the four elephants in the January-March 2010 period suggests that the giant animals are facing a high risk of extinction," World Wide Fund (WWF) spokesman Syamsidar said here on Sunday. One of the four elephants was found dead at a rubber plantation owned by a villager in Mandau subdistrict, Bengkalis district, he said. The other two were found dead at their habitat in the Tesso Nilo National Park in Pelalawan district, and one young elephant died of improper care at the Minas Elephant Conservation Center in Siak district, he said. According to WWF data, a total of 43 elephants in Riau had died since 2007. Twenty-four of them died in 2007, six in 2008 and nine in 2009. Syamsidar put the blame on prolonged conflicts between humans and elephants for most of the elephant deaths. The death of an elephant at Petani village in Mandau subdistrict, Bengkalis district, and that of a young elephant at the elephant conservation center were the result of a human-elephant conflict, he said.