Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – An animal rights activist who initiated an online petition calling for a criminal probe into the killing of four elephants in Aceh claimed to have faced intimidation.
Aulia Ferizal, along with members of social activism platform Change.org, came to the National Police headquarters in Jakarta on Friday to urge the force to take action on the killings of the protected animal.
Aulia said that police must immediately take actions, considering the activists efforts to divulge the case has been hampered by intimidation.
He claimed that some people tried to find him after he made a petition at Change.org, calling on the government to a launch probe into the death of a Sumatran elephant, named Papa Genk, in a vacant lot in Ranto Saboh village, Aceh, last week.
Genk had sustained injuries to his head and his tusks and eyes had been removed, while his trunk was detached from his body. The petition had garnered support from more than 14,000 netizens.
"I feel insecure. I am being hunted after launching the petition. This makes me unable to go home in Aceh," he said after the meeting in the headquarters in South Jakarta.
He added that the Aceh Conservation Response Unit (CRU) elephant trainers, who found the carcass while patrolling, received the same intimidation, prompting them to temporarily move to the Sare Elephant Training Center in Aceh Besar.
In response to Genk's death, the Aceh Police have named five suspects who allegedly killed the elephant due to economic hardship.
The police failed to put the suspects, who are affiliated with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), behind bars as they are being protected by the local villagers.
Another activist, Nurjanah Husein, said that another elephant was killed following Genk's death. "Yesterday, another elephant was found dead due to poisoning. This means that four elephants had been killed in the last two months," Nurjanah said.
The Aceh Police found the carcass of two elephants at an oil palm plantation area in Aceh Timur regency.
In order to provide better protection for wild animal, activist Dian Paramitha urged the government to set up a National Commission tasked to supervise and design regulations on animal protection.
Responding to the call, National Police Deputy Chief Comr. Gen. Nanan Sukarna said the Forestry Ministry held the authority to handle the cases. However, he said that the force was ready to back up the ministry's investigation.
He added that solving the matter was "dilemmatic". "We have to protect both the rights of people and animal. The killing location used to be an elephant habitat before people settled there. Elephants and locals fight over the land, that then results in death on both sides," he said.