JAKARTA, March 2 (Xinhua) -- A wild Sumatran elephant has died two days after being treated intensively at the Saree Elephant Training Center in Indonesia's Aceh province, the Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency said on Tuesday.
The agency's head Agus Arianto said forest guards found the 30-year-old female elephant last Friday, in a malnourished and critical condition in a forest in Lamtamot village, Aceh Besar district.
"There is an old infected wound in the abdomen. We suspect it was due to being hit by a wooden pole," Arianto told Xinhua.
The guards found no indication of violence on the elephant.
Based on a necropsy result, the elephant died of infection from untreated wounds that triggered the spread of bacteria throughout the body, and then damaged the metabolic system.
In 2022, this is the third death of Indonesian wild elephants that the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies as Critically Endangered due to hunts, conflicts, and habitat destructions. ■
