Indonesian baby elephant dies after losing half its trunk due to poaching trap
- The one-year-old female was among the last of Sumatra island’s 700 wild Sumatran elephants
- Despite surviving the amputation of its trunk, she died of stress and infection
“We tried our best, but it couldn’t be helped,” said Agus Arianto, the head of Aceh province’s conservation agency. “Its trunk was getting rotten and no longer functioning.”
The one-year-old female was among the last of the island’s 700 wild Sumatran elephants. She was found very weak with a snare still embedded in her almost-severed trunk on Sunday in Alue Meuraksa, a forested village in the Aceh Jaya district, according to conservation officials.
Arianto told reporters that an autopsy was underway by a team of vets to determine the causes of the baby elephant’s death.
He said that wildlife officials on Monday had to amputate half of the trunk in a life-or-death operation at an elephant training centre near Banda Aceh, the provincial capital.
“Her death was shocking ... because she looked fine after being amputated and [was] actively moving,” said Rika Marwati, a veterinarian at the centre. “She suddenly fell ill from stress and infection late Monday and by morning she was reported dead.”
Conservationists say that the coronavirus pandemic has led to increased poaching in Sumatra as villagers turn to hunting for economic reasons.