A tame Elephant has been killed by poachers in the Serbajadi District of Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. Bunta, 27, was one of a herd of four Sumatran Elephants, Elephas maximus sumatranus, kept by the Serbajadi Conservation Response Unit in the village of Bunin, and used to help prevent Human-Elephant conflict by warding off wild Elephants approaching agricultural land. He was found dead on Sunday 10 June 2018, having apparently died after consuming Bananas and Mangoes laced with poison, and had subsequently had one tusk removed.
The body of Bunta, a 26-year-old Sumatran Elephant from a herd owned by the Serbajadi Conservation Response Unit Conservation Response Unit, killed by poachers this weekend. Al Mahdi/Antara.
The Sumatran Elephants, Elephas maximus sumatranus, is a subspecies of Asian Elephant, Elephas maximus, which was once found across the island of Sumatra, but which is now restricted to 25 fragmented populations, most of which are located outside of conservation areas, a drop from 43 populations in 1985, with the total wild population estimated at 2400-2800 individuals. For this reason the Sumatran Elephant is considered to be Critically Endangered under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
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