They seemed to have eaten fertilizer like what had happened to four elephants which had been found dead previously, Amon Zamora, the head of the Bengkulu Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA) said here on Friday.
Eight elephants had been found dead in Bengkulu over the past two years. Amon Zamora suspected that the animals had died after eating fertilizers provided by unknown persons.
He said the increasing number of dead elephants had something to do with efforts to downgrade the status of the elephant training center (PLG) into an other purpose area (APL).
Many parties wanted to take of the PLG Bengkulu area because the area is rich of coal reserves, he explained.
There are now around 150 elephants inside the 6,800-ha PLG area.
"We are trying to arrest those poisoning the wild elephants by involving various parties including the community and the military," he said.
Supartono, also of the BKSDA said his office has suspected those behind the poisoning of the elephants, but it will need further investigation because the chain also involved local community.
BKSDA would tighten security around the PLG area, he said.
(Uu.F001/HAJM)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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