After Losing Half of its Trunk in a Poacher's Trap, Baby Elephant Tragically Died

After losing half of its trunk in an Indonesian trap set by poachers, a young Sumatran elephant succumbed to its injuries.

Rescuing from Being Trapped

After being ensnared in a snare trap, the severely endangered one-year-old calf was abandoned by its herd.

It was discovered by residents in Aceh Jaya and sent to a conservation agency to be treated

Succumbing to Injuries

Officials with the National Park Service claim they tried to save its life by amputating its trunk, but it died two days later from an infection caused by its injuries.

"We weren't able to rescue it since the wound was serious and infected," said Agus Arianto, the chairman of the Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency.

"We did everything we could to support it."

Endangered Sumatran Elephants

Due to increased deforestation in the natural environment of Borneo and Sumatra, the Sumatran elephant is considered a critically endangered species.

Because of their valuable tusks, traded on the illegal ivory market, male elephants are particularly vulnerable to poachers.

The loss of the calf is the latest in a series of poaching-related tragedies. In July of this year, the most recent instance occurred when an adult elephant's tusks were torn off and beheaded.

The Sumatran elephant went from "Endangered" to "Critically Endangered" in 2012 because half of its population was lost in a single generation, owing to habitat degradation and human-elephant conflict. Sumatra has one of the greatest deforestation rates within the Asian elephant's range, resulting in local elephant extinctions in numerous regions. In the last 25 years, approximately two-thirds of the Sumatran elephant's native lowland forest has been lost. Nearly 70% of the Sumatran elephant's habitat has been destroyed in a single generation.

Elephant-Man Interaction

Pulp and paper businesses and oil palm plantations have produced some of the world's fastest deforestation rates in Sumatra's Riau province. In less than 25 years, elephant numbers have plummeted by 80%, restricting some herds to limited forest tracts. Long-term survival is unlikely for these groups. The number of elephant herds in Lampung province has decreased from twelve in the 1980s to only three in 2002. Biologically, just two of the remaining herds are deemed viable.

Elephants frequently come into touch with human communities as a result of Sumatra's fast urbanization and deforestation. They plunder fields, crush homes, and occasionally injure or kill individuals. Those who have been harmed may respond by poisoning or shooting elephants.

Conservation Attemprts

Between 1986 and 1995, 520 wild elephants were captured and housed at six Elephant Training Centres in Lampung, Aceh, Bengkulu, North, and South Sumatra, and Riau, which had been constructed since 1986. Capturing wild elephants was halted in 1999 due to the high cost of keeping captive elephants. Their administration had not become self-sustaining, and some of the centers were overcrowded. Three hundred ninety-one elephants were housed at the centers by the end of 2000, with a few more in zoos, safari parks, and tourism regions.