Yongki: Outrage at killing of ‘friendly’ endangered Sumatran elephant

According to a report at Fusion, Yongki also helped park rangers calm other elephants, who can threaten villages by going into apparently unmotivated stampedes, and was a bit of a star in his home country.

Yongki, a tame “critically endangered” Sumatran elephant, was found dead in Bukit Barisan Selatan national park on Friday in a pool of his own blood.

The elephant was famous in his native country for helping Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park rangers patrol his habitat.

Its one-metre (three-foot) tusks had been hacked off, leaving just bloody stumps, and its legs still bore the chains put on it by his keepers to ensure it stayed in the camp. Anwar Purwoto, Director of Sumatra and Borneo of WWF Indonesia, says that something needs to be done not only for Yongki but for all endangered elephants being killed for their ivory.

Yongki had a blue tongue, and elephants have been poisoned in the past, Mr Batubara said. They are frequently targeted by poachers for their tusks, which fetch a high price for use in Chinese traditional medicine. Batubara told ABC that it is not yet known how the elephant was killed.

The head of the Indonesian elephant-keepers’ forum, Nazaruddin, said Yongki was well-liked by keepers. Keepers were quite “shaken” at the elephant’s tragic demise. Last year, reports the Post, seven elephants were poisoned in a single day alone. He was often used by park rangers in their anti-poaching patrols, joining other elephants herded together for the task, and news of his death met with outrage on social media.

“It is time we enforce life sentences for hunters of legally protected animals”, said Facebook user Aprilia Putri.

There’s anger of the death of a tame Sumatra elephant that appeared to be poisoned. It is one of many species that are under threat in Indonesia.