A Sumatran elephant was found with its trunk cut off in Riau province earlier this week, with authorities suspecting that the gigantic mammal was killed for encroaching residential areas.

The carcass of the male elephant was found on Wednesday afternoon near the Kelayang district office in Indragiri Hulu regency. According to reports, the elephant’s face was severely mutilated and its trunk has been cut off.

“The dead elephant … was separated from its herd in the Tesso Tenggara elephant enclosure, and had entered both residential as well as plantation areas that are part of its home ranges on multiple occasions,” head of Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) in Riau, Suharyono, said yesterday as quoted by state news agency Antara.

Suharyono said that based on the report he has received, the elephant’s head was cut open with a sharp object and that some parts from its trunk were scattered around its carcass.

BKSDA Riau has launched an investigation of this case with Kelayang District Police and the Special Crime Unit of Riau Police.

Suharyono added that the agency has been going on regular attempts to barricade some residential areas in order to keep the elephants away since last year. However, he said some villagers have not been cooperative in the process.

Sumatran elephants, a subspecies of Asian elephants, are a critically endangered species. They are protected under Indonesia’s laws on conservation, but still face serious threat in places like Riau province today, including illegal logging, human-wildlife conflict and illegal hunting ⁠— in which poachers mostly kill the animal for their tusks.

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