Pekanbaru - Erwin Daulay, mahout of the Elephant Flying Squad team found Tino, a 2-year-old elephant calf of the Flying Squad, dead on Friday (20/11) morning. Tino was found not far from where his mother, Ria, was tethered in the Tesso Nilo National Park (TNTN) area, Ukui District, Pelalawan, Riau.

As usual, that morning Tino and Ria were about to be moved from their mooring site to the bathhouse. But Erwin found Tino in a slumped position about 10 meters from his mother who continued to stare at Tino.

From the veterinary examination led by drh. Muhclisin from the Pelalawan District Livestock Service Office found no signs of violence and physical damage to the elephant.

drh. Muchlisin stated, "Tino's intestines have red rashes that we suspect are due to gas buildup in his intestines. The cause is many factors, one of which can be caused by consuming too much young grass."

Furthermore, drh. Muchlisin explained, "The symptoms of gas accumulation (Bloat - ed) in the intestine are very fast, only lasting a matter of hours and can indeed be fatal if the elephant's body condition is not fit enough, for example due to weather factors."

A joint team from the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Center (BBKSDA), TNTN Center and WWF Indonesia have also combed around the scene and found no suspicious signs.

Head of Tesso Nilo National Park, Ir. Tandya Tjahjana, M.Si stated, "Civil Servant Investigators have been deployed to conduct an examination of Tino's body, and the location around his death as a first step to investigate the death of this elephant calf."

Tandya added, "Reports from our officers and the temporary conclusion of the veterinarian who conducted the necropsy found no suspicious signs. To determine the exact cause of Tino's death, we sent the specimen for laboratory examination to the Bukit Tinggi Veterinary Center."

The day before he was found dead, Tino was still carrying out routine activities. He was seen agilely swimming and diving when all the Flying Squad elephants bathed together in the Provision River.

Head of Technical Division of BBKSDA Riau, Lukita Awang Nistyantara, S.Hut. Msi said, "This is the second time we have lost an elephant calf from the Flying Squad after Nela was found dead in May 2015. This incident is a valuable lesson that the challenge of elephant conservation is still very high to maintain the survival of elephants in Sumatra."

The dry season that hit Riau for the last three months has affected elephant habitat in TNTN. Some areas did catch fire. After the fire, vigilance must always be maintained to avoid human-elephant conflicts.

Wishnu Sukmantoro, Program Manager of WWF Indonesia Central Sumatra Program stated, "We routinely conduct health checks on the elephants in the Flying Squad, including during the haze incident last September. At that time, Tino's medical records showed good condition," Wishnu explained.

Wishnu added that WWF Indonesia in coordination with the TNTN Center and BBKSDA Riau will further increase supervision of the Flying Squad elephants mainly because many factors affect elephant health including weather changes.

---oOo---

Note to Editor:

• According to operating standards, elephant calves under 4 years of age are still left under the supervision of their mothers and placed around their mothers without being tethered.
• Tino is the fourth calf or from the Flying Squad Team, a collaboration between WWF Indonesia, Riau Natural Resources Conservation Center (BBKSDA) and Tesso Nilo National Park. Tino was born on August 7, 2013, the day before Eid al-Fitr. The mahouts named him Tino, which comes from the local language betino, meaning female, because of his calm behavior.
• In 2015, according to WWF records, there were at least 9 elephant deaths in Riau, 4 of which were victims of poaching with seven perpetrators arrested by Riau Police in February 2015, 3 individuals died in PT RAPP concessions around Tesso Nilo and 2 elephant calves, Nela and Tino.

Further information:

• Hutomo, Head of Administration Tesso Nilo National Park Center

Phone: 081219573947

• Lukita Awang Nistyantara, S.Hut. M.Si, Head of Technical Division, BBKSDA Riau.

Phone: +62-852-159-59862

• Syamsuardi, Elephant Conflict Monitoring Coordinator, WWF Indonesia Riau Program

Telepon: +62-852-659-05075