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BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AFP) – A critically endangered Sumatran baby elephant has died after losing half of its trunk in a poacher’s trap, Indonesian conservation officials said. The one-year-old calf succumbed to a severe infection, two days after it was found by villagers in Aceh Jaya and despite subsequent efforts to save its life by amputating the rest of its injured trunk. “We couldn’t save it because the injury was severe and infected,” Agus Arianto, head […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lanka’s main elephant orphanage recorded a rare twin birth Tuesday as a 25-year-old named Surangi delivered healthy male calves. They are the first elephant twins born in captivity in Sri Lanka since 1941, according to elephant expert Jayantha Jayewardene. “Both the calves and the mother are doing fine,” Renuka Bandaranaike, head of the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, told AFP. “The babies are relatively small, but they are healthy.” She said […]
by Jalees ANDRABI Agence France-Presse NEW DEHLI, India (AFP) — Indian police have arrested a plantation worker and are hunting two others after a pregnant elephant died after eating fruit laced with explosives, officials said Saturday, in a case that shocked the country. The elephant died in agony last week in the southern state of Kerala, the latest casualty of a growing conflict in South Asia between nature and humans as ever more forest is […]
NEW DEHLI, India (AFP) — India pledged to investigate Thursday the death of a pregnant elephant that ate explosives-filled fruit, as cricket and Bollywood stars joined a chorus of outrage over the incident. The elephant died in agony last week in the southern state of Kerala, the latest casualty in a growing conflict in South Asia between large animals and humans as ever more forest is lost to urban expansion. Footage of the animal standing […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — A pregnant elephant was killed in India after eating fruit stuffed with explosives, officials said Wednesday, sparking outrage over the use of such traps to protect crops and homes. The wild elephant strayed into a village near Silent Valley National Park in south Kerala state last Wednesday when it ate the rigged fruit — believed to be a pineapple — which exploded and severely injured its mouth, officials said. “We […]
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — Bangladesh’s biggest zoo has called time on elephant rides following a long-running campaign by activists. The ban was quietly introduced last month, Dhaka zoo curator Nurul Islam told AFP, adding it would never been lifted. “We agree that these rides were not good for the animals,” Islam said, acknowledging the efforts of animal rights groups. “Elephant rides are a kind of animal abuse and cruelty towards the animal.” The zoo in […]
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP) — An elephant has been found dead with its tusks and tail sliced off in a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia, where wild elephant numbers have dwindled to just a few hundred due to poaching and deforestation. The Southeast Asian nation has emerged in recent years as a key transit hub for the multi-billion dollar illicit wildlife trade, with demand for products made from tusks, pangolin scales and rhino horns high in […]
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AFP)- A critically endangered elephant has been found dead in a palm oil plantation on Indonesia’s Sumatra island in what is suspected to be a deliberate poisoning, an official said Friday. The 10-year-old female Sumatran elephant was found in Jambo Reuhat village in North Aceh on Thursday — the third of its species to be found dead of suspected poisoning in the same palm plantation since 2015. “We found fruits and a pouch with traces of powder inside the animal,” Aceh […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — An elephant that has starred in feature films and commercials crushed its owner to death in Thailand, zoo officials said Tuesday, setting off fresh debate over the kingdom’s animal tourism industry. The accident took place Monday morning in the northern city of Chiang Mai, just after owner Somsak Riengngen unchained the five-ton elephant Ekasit. With a mahout, or handler, on his back, Ekasit took a few steps before reversing course and […]
by Amal Jayasinghe Agence France-Presse COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy has rescued an elephant that got into difficulties after being washed out to sea, a spokesman said Wednesday, calling it a “miraculous escape.” Chaminda Walakuluge said the Navy mounted the 12-hour rescue after spotting the elephant struggling to stay afloat around eight kilometers (five miles) off the island’s northeast coast. Divers aided by wildlife officials approached the distressed animal and tied […]
SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) — Sydney’s Taronga Zoo welcomed the arrival of an Asian elephant calf on Friday (May 26), the first to be born there in nearly seven years, according to a statement. The unnamed male calf weighed in at 130 kilograms and was standing within five minutes of the birth, zoo staff confirmed. The zoo said that the latest arrival will be a second for mother Pak Boon, who delivered a female calf named […]
CALIFORNIA, United States (Reuters) — Vus’Musi, a 13-year-old male zoo elephant in California, got a shiny new replacement for his worn-out tusks after a Fresno zoo capped them with brass. The Fresno Chaffee Zoo said on Thursday (March 9) that Vus’Musi had a history of being rough with his tusks and that they had become worn and cracked at his former zoo in San Diego. The cracks could have led to the tusks actually breaking, […]
