Elephant Electrocuted in Central Java Park, Officials Say

Jakarta Globe, November 29, 2012

A Sumatran elephant with her baby bathes in the river at the Conservation
 Response Unit wildlife reservation area in the Aceh district of Aceh Jaya
in this October file photo. (AFP Photo/Chaideer Mahyuddin)

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An endangered Sumatran elephant was found dead at a recreation park in the Central Java district of Banjarnegara on Wednesday, with park officials speculating that the pachyderm was electrocuted.

The 14-year-old Dona died after she presumably bit a high-voltage wire in her cage at Serulingmas Wildlife Recreation Park.

“When found, the elephant lay on the floor with her mouth charred. An electrical wire was in her mouth,” the Banjarnegara Culture and Tourism Agency chief, Aziz Ahmad, told antaranews.com on Wednesday.

He added that several of the park's enclosures, including Dona’s, were undergoing repairs, leaving some wires that supplied power to welding equipment dangling in the cages.

Dona is thought to have reached one of those wires before biting it, inducing a fatal electric shock.

Elephant tamer Suroyo, 26, who was the first to come across Dona’s dead body, said he was shocked by the incident, having taken care of Dona for the past four years.

“Dona was a very obedient, always cheerful elephant. Every time we met, Dona always asked to play. I still can’t believe Dona’s gone now,” Suroyo said.

Dona’s remains were buried in the park on Wednesday afternoon following an autopsy by police.

Aziz said that with Dona’s death, there remained just one elephant in the park.

Estimates put the number of Sumatran elephants left in the wild at fewer than 3,000, and the species is considered “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Conservationists say the remaining population is severely threatened due to habitat loss from illegal logging and palm oil plantations’ expansion.