NINE ELEPHANTS KILLED IN RIAU PROVINCE THIS YEAR

Pekanbaru, Dec 11 (ANTARA) - As many as nine Sumatran elephants were found dead due to illegal hunting and conflicts with humans in Riau province in 2009, an environmental organisation said.

The Riau branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said here on Friday the first elephants to die from unnatural causes were two kept at the Minas Elephant Training Center in Siak district last May.
The two protected animals were found dead on their grazing field with their tusks missing after they had apparently been poisoned.

Five other elephant killings happened in the concession areas of plantation company PT Rimba Peranap Indah (RPI) in Indragiri Hulu district, also in May. The presumed cause of their death also was poisoning.

Last June, another elephant was found dead in the concession area of PT Arara Abadi and the most recent case happened last Tuesday (Dec 8) in an area controlled by PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) in the Ukui sector of Pelalawan district.

WWF Riau spokesperson Syamsidar said this year had seen an increase in the number of elephant killings. Citing an exmple, Syamsidar said as many as six elephants had died this year in their habitat in or near the Tesso Nilo National Park, whereas in 2008 there was none.

Another regrettable thing , according to Syamsidar, was the fact that the local natural resources conservation authorities and police had so far not been able to catch any of the elephant killers.
According to WWF's estimate, Riau's elephant population now was only 250, down from 350 in 2003.