Endangered Sumatran Elephant Found Butchered, Tusks Missing

A Sumatran elephant has been found shot dead in Indonesia with its tusks removed and its head badly mutilated, an official said Wednesday, the latest suspected attack by poachers on the critically-endangered animals.

The carcass of the male elephant, aged around 20, was found Monday in a forest in Aceh province, on western Sumatra island, local conservation agency chief Genman Suhefti Hasibuan told Agence France Presse. 

Its head was mutilated and bearing gunshot wounds, said the official. An autopsy indicated the elephant died a month ago.  

"The elephant managed to run for around 100 metres (330 feet) from the place it was shot," Hasibuan said.

He said the killing was evidence that the animals -- the smallest of the Asian elephants -- were still being hunted for their ivory tusks in the area, adding that police and authorities had launched an investigation.

Ivory is in demand as it fetches high prices in some Asian countries where it is used in traditional medicines.

Dozens of the elephants have been killed in recent years.

As well as poachers, they are also targeted by villagers, who regard the beasts as pests that destroy their plantations. 

Animals and humans have increasingly been coming into conflict across the sprawling Indonesian archipelago, as palm oil plantations expand and destroy many rare species' natural habitats.

There are estimated to be between 2,400 and 2,800 Sumatran elephants remaining in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, marking a 50 percent drop in numbers since 1985.

The group classifies the animals as "critically endangered".