"We deplore the death of the elephant calf in Surabaya Zoo because this is not the first time that an animal has died in the zoo," the legislator stated in Surabaya, the capital of East Java Province, on Monday.
To respond to the residents' concerns on unprofessional zoo management, the Surabaya Zoo Animal Park Regional Company, as the city zoo's operator, should rectify errors committed in the zoo's management, he remarked.
Limardi suspects negligence on the part of the zoo's management leading to the death of Dumbo, as it had failed to coordinate with the East Java Natural Resources Conservation Agency and inform the office about the illness and the eventual death of the elephant calf.
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"We will summon the zoo management to investigate the factors that lead to the death of Dumbo, and we will penalize the zoo management if the investigation reveals that the management's error caused the calf's death," the legislator stated.
Meanwhile, Surabaya Zoo's director, Khoirul Anwar, confirmed that the elephant calf, cared for under the zoo management, had died.
The zoo director is yet to inform about the causes of the calf's death.
"Yes (the elephant calf is dead), but we will wait for a laboratory autopsy report before we issue our official statement," Anwar remarked.
Dumbo, a male Sumatran elephant, was born on July 22, 2019, from a male elephant Lembang and female elephant Doa. The elephant calf weighed 122 kilograms at birth and measured 88 centimeters in height and had a chest circumference of 118 centimeters.
The then-Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini and her family had visited the zoo to see the elephant calf after its birth. The calf was named Dumbo by Rismaharini's granddaughter, Gwen.
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Translator: Abdul Hakim, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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