REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PEKANBARU -- A Sumatran elephant was found dead with a bullet injury on its head in Lubuk Kembang Bunga Village of Ukui Sub-district, Pelalawan District, Riau Province, an environmentalist noted here on Thursday.

The tusks of the ill-fated mammal were missing, and its head was almost cut in half when it was recently discovered, stated Tomy Manungkalit, the director of an environmental NGO called Riau Madani.

"The poacher likely used a wood-cutting machine to cut the male elephant's trunk in order to extract its tusks," he pointed out.

This latest case is another inclusion to the lengthy list of elephants that were killed due to poaching and conflicts between animals and humans in Riau, Tomy added.

Over the past three years, 45 elephants were found dead. In 2014 alone, 15 deaths have so far been reported, he stated, adding that the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) and local police have conducted an autopsy on the elephant on June 17.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has placed the Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) in the list of "critically endangered species". The total population of Sumatran elephants is estimated to reach 2.4 to 2.8 thousand.

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