Results of an autopsy showed that rat poison has killed a couple of Sumatran elephants on May 31, head of Tesso Nillo National Park, Kupin Simbolon said in Pekanbaru, in Riau, yesterday.

“The rat poison was suspected to have killed both elephants because the poison residue was found in the stomach of the elephants’ carcasses,” Indonesia's Antara news agency quoted Kupin as saying.

“We have no idea who did this,” Simbolon added.

The elephants’ carcasses were found last Friday when personnel of the park and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) monitored the movement of wild elephants in the park, he said.

“This is very worrying that too many elephants have died and I promise not to let this to continue to happen,” he said.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson of the WWF Programme for Riau, Syamsidar, said that the elephants which were allegedly poisoned most likely belonged to the same herd as the locations they were found were not far from each other.

One of the dead elephants was about five years old, Simbolon said, adding that its tusk remained intact when it was found.

It was believed the two elephants died two or three days ago, he said.

Syamsidar said the conflict between human and elephant in the park has been escalating since 2012.

As a matter of fact, the national park was established to help the preservation of the Sumatran elephants whose population now reaches only 150 to 200 in Tesso Nilo.

As many as 15 elephants were found dead in Riau in 2012, most of them in Tesso Nilo.

“So far this year three elephants have been found dead in Tesso Nilo,” he said.

- Bernama