A 40-year-old male Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) was discovered headless with gunshot wounds in the Ukui Block protected area, Lubuk Kembang Bunga Village, Ukui District, Pelalawan Regency, Riau, on Monday, February 2nd. This tragic discovery occurred within the concession area of PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (PT RAPP).
“Our team was the first to discover this incident and promptly reported it to the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BBKSDA) and the Indonesian National Police,” stated Disra Alldrick, Corporate Communications Manager for PT RAPP, to BBC News Indonesia on Tuesday, February 10th.
Meanwhile, Supartono, Head of BBKSDA Riau, revealed that the elephant’s carcass was already decomposed, and its head remains missing to date. Supartono firmly believes that this tragic event is the work of organized illegal hunting, once again targeting the elephant’s valuable tusks.
Citing the forensic report from the Riau Regional Police, Kombes Pol Zahwani Pandra Arsyad, Head of Public Relations for the Riau Regional Police, disclosed the discovery of a bullet projectile. This finding serves as crucial evidence confirming the elephant’s death was an illegal killing.
The death of an elephant due to suspected poaching is, unfortunately, not an isolated incident. Just in January 2024, a 46-year-old elephant named Rahman was reportedly poisoned to death. Rahman, a conservation elephant at the Tesso Nilo National Park (TNTN) in Pelalawan Regency, Riau, also had one of his left tusks severed. To this day, the perpetrators behind Rahman’s killing remain unapprehended.
Muhammad Ali Imron, Forest & Wildlife Director at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), strongly condemned the killing and decapitation of the Sumatran elephant in Riau. “This elephant’s death signifies a highly planned and heinous act of poaching. This crime is not merely the loss of an individual animal; it serves as a loud alarm for wildlife conservation efforts across Indonesia,” Imron told BBC News Indonesia.
These recurring tragedies raise a critical question: why does illegal elephant poaching continue unabated? The answer lies in a complex interplay of factors, including shrinking habitats, escalating human-wildlife conflict, and gaps in law enforcement.
Shrinking Elephant Habitat
The dwindling natural habitat of the Sumatran elephant is a primary driver of these conflicts. Data from the Indonesian Elephant Conservation Forum (FKGI) reveals a drastic reduction in Sumatran elephant habitats, plummeting from 44 pockets to just 22 pockets over nearly a decade, from 1992 to 2021. This habitat loss has directly impacted their population, which was once estimated at 3,700-4,300 individuals but drastically declined to between 924-1,359 by 2021.
A major culprit behind this decline is widespread deforestation. Auriga Nusantara reported that deforestation in Indonesia in 2024 spanned an alarming 261,575 hectares, an increase of 4,191 hectares from the previous year’s 257,384 hectares. This illegal deforestation relentlessly encroaches upon vital protected areas like Rawa Singkil and Tesso Nilo in Sumatra, which are critical elephant habitats. A staggering 159 hectares were lost in Rawa Singkil alone in 2024. Sumatra Island, overall, has experienced a severe reduction in natural forest cover, dropping from approximately 58% in 1985 to a mere 24% by 2016. This rapid decline is largely attributable to the expansion of palm oil plantations and industrial timber estates (HTI). Such extensive deforestation poses an existential threat not only to elephants but also to other endemic species like orangutans and tigers, pushing them closer to extinction.
Overlapping Spaces and Human-Elephant Conflict
This habitat compression directly leads to escalating human-elephant conflict. A notable instance of such discord occurred in Tesso Nilo National Park (TNTN) in 2025 (as stated in the original text). Muhammad Ali Imron of WWF elaborated, “Conflict arises from overlapping spaces. The millennia-old habitats and migratory routes [home ranges] of elephants are now being converted into plantations, be it industrial timber estates or palm oil farms, or even human settlements.”
Key drivers of these conflicts, including those witnessed in TNTN, involve rampant illegal logging and forest encroachment. Furthermore, issues stemming from land management that deviates from its designated purpose often ignite clashes of interest. In TNTN, for example, out of approximately 81,000 hectares, only 15% remains in its natural state, with the rest having been illegally converted into palm oil plantations and settlements. In response, the government is now actively pursuing restoration and management efforts for elephant habitats. “The Seblat Corridor is home to Sumatran elephants. The state will not permit this area to be damaged by illegal activities. This is not merely about elephants; it is about ecosystem sustainability and the future of humanity,” affirmed Deputy Minister of Forestry, Rohmat Marzuki.
Uneven Law Enforcement
Another critical challenge in combating illegal hunting is uneven law enforcement. WWF’s Imron attributes the persistence of poaching to economic needs, compounded by the high demand in both national and international black markets for elephant tusks and other animal body parts. A significant hurdle in investigations is that arrested perpetrators are often mere field executors, while the financiers and larger networks behind these operations remain elusive. For instance, in 2017, the Jambi Regional Police and BKSDA successfully foiled an elephant ivory trade operation, yet once again, only the field operatives were apprehended. To truly deter these crimes, Imron advocates for a “multidoor” approach to law enforcement, prosecuting offenders under money laundering, forestry, and general criminal laws, thereby ensuring a more severe and comprehensive legal deterrent.
The Ministry of Forestry has vowed to pursue and dismantle the network suspected of involvement in the elephant’s killing within the PT RAPP area. “We will not give any quarter to perpetrators of wildlife crime. Our field teams are currently working intensively to identify this poaching network. Our focus is not only on the field perpetrators but also on the financiers and intellectual masterminds behind them,” stated Dwi Januanto Nugroho, Director General of Forestry Law Enforcement.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Forestry has requested information from PT RAPP to ascertain its compliance with licensing obligations and its commitment to forest and wildlife protection within its concession area. This includes assessing the effectiveness of the area’s security system, the management of High Conservation Value (HCV) zones, and the existence and functionality of wildlife corridors within the PBPH area (Forest Utilization Business Permit). “Should any negligence be found, there will certainly be legal consequences in accordance with prevailing laws and regulations,” Dwi added.
What are the solutions to this pressing issue?
Muhammad Ali Imron, WWF’s Forest & Wildlife Director, proposes several effective solutions to mitigate the ongoing human-elephant conflict and protect the species:
- Early Warning Systems (EWS): Implementing GPS collars on elephants and developing early detection systems for human-elephant conflict in Sumatra, utilizing bioacoustic technology through an Android application. The goal is to monitor elephant movements, allowing residents to be forewarned.
- Establishing Habitats and Migration Routes: Ensuring safe, comfortable, and well-maintained living spaces and movement corridors for elephants. This involves improving the quality of existing areas to meet elephants’ needs, coupled with elephant-friendly cultivation practices and planting crops disliked by elephants to serve as natural fences.
- Building Corridors: Creating pathways to connect fragmented habitat pockets, enabling elephants to move freely and safely between them.
- Fostering Awareness and Understanding: Cultivating a societal mindset where humans accept the presence of elephants and acknowledge the necessity of sharing living spaces.
Regarding land concessions that encroach upon elephant habitats, Imron emphasizes that concession-holding companies (whether for industrial timber or palm oil) bear a legal responsibility to protect biodiversity within their operational areas.
Firstly, companies are mandated to set aside High Conservation Value (HCV) areas as both habitats and corridors for elephants.
Secondly, these companies are required to monitor HCV areas and report any indications of poaching that threaten wildlife to the authorities.
“The government must also re-evaluate concession permits that convert critical habitats and sever major migration routes. If companies fail to secure their areas from poachers, administrative sanctions, up to permit revocation, must be enforced,” Imron urged.
Imron also highlighted the Peusangan Elephant Conservation Initiative in Aceh as a promising model. “The program in Peusangan is not a form of land clearing; rather, it represents a strategic transformation from a production forest area (PBPH/IUPHHK-HA) into an Elephant Sanctuary. This initiative, in fact, provides a fundamental solution for the Sumatran elephant habitat ecosystem,” Imron explained. He outlined several mechanisms for its implementation:
- Changing Land Designation: Transforming the purpose of timber utilization permits in natural production forests (IUPHHK-HA) into designated elephant protection areas, thereby halting commercial logging. This ensures the integrity of the forest remains preserved as a permanent habitat for elephants.
- Ecosystem Enrichment through Fodder Planting: Instead of reducing vegetation, this program actively enriches biodiversity. Planting various types of elephant fodder within the area ensures the animals’ nutritional needs are met internally, minimizing their inclination to venture into human settlements in search of food.
- Implementing Agroforestry: This concept fosters a harmonious partnership between nature and humans. Through agroforestry, local communities can derive economic benefits from productive crops that do not harm the forest, while simultaneously creating a crucial buffer zone that positively contributes to environmental sustainability.
What is PT RAPP’s response?
Disra Alldrick, Corporate Communications Manager for PT RAPP, affirmed the company’s full commitment to cooperating with the Ministry of Forestry and law enforcement agencies to support a thorough investigation into the elephant’s death. “We strongly condemn acts of poaching and the killing of protected wildlife, following the discovery of a deceased elephant in the Ukui Protected Area on February 2nd, 2026 (as stated in the original text, please note potential discrepancy with previous dates). Such actions constitute a serious criminal offense,” Disra stated. “We enforce a zero-tolerance policy against wildlife crime, both within and surrounding our company’s operational areas.”
Alldrick further explained that wildlife protection is a fundamental component of the company’s landscape management approach, executed through sustainable conservation and conflict mitigation programs in collaboration with the government and relevant stakeholders. In line with this commitment, PT RAPP continuously reviews and strengthens its Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and area protection systems as part of its ongoing dedication to wildlife safeguarding, while fully respecting and supporting the ongoing investigation by the authorities.
Disra also mentioned that APRIL, PT RAPP’s parent company, has managed an Elephant Flying Squad in Ukui Estate, Pelalawan, Riau, which commenced operations in 2006. This area currently hosts six elephants that patrol the forests and help guide wild elephants away from human settlements. Ukui Estate serves as a vital habitat for wild elephants in Sumatra, where they live and breed. The Elephant Flying Squad is typically divided into two teams: one for forest monitoring and the other for directing wild elephants away from populated areas.
You might also be interested in:
- Elephant riding attractions officially banned in Indonesia – ‘They bring elephants from Sumatra to Bali, but only to commercialize them’
- Rare Tapanuli orangutan found dead under piles of wood and mud after Sumatra floods
- Baby elephant named Tari dies in Tesso Nilo National Park – What caused its death?
- Human-elephant conflict in Jambi: Sumatran elephants ‘increasingly squeezed’ as forests turn into palm oil plantations
- The story of an elephant repeatedly tranquilized for seeking rice in human settlements
- The repentance of a butcher ‘addicted to killing and skinning’ hundreds of tigers in the Sumatran jungle, Indonesia’s last stronghold
- ‘Avoiding robbers and threatened by tigers’ – The story behind the discovery of the rare Rafflesia hasseltii plant in Sumatra
- Three tigers dead at Medan Zoo, four critically ill – ‘Just awaiting news of more deaths’