DENPASAR, Indonesia — Conservation authorities in Indonesia have launched a review of the main zoo on the resort island of Bali, after an elephant there was swept away and killed in a flash flood on Dec. 16. ”We‘ll evaluate the management of wildlife, especially the remaining 14 elephants” at Bali Zoo, said Ratna Hendramoko, head of the Bali Natural Resources Conservation Agency. Molly, a 45-year-old female Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus), was one of 15 Asian elephants housed at Bali Zoo. The zoo said its elephant handlers routinely lead the animals on a walk to a nearby river. However, heavy rains on Dec. 16 caused the river to swell around the time Molly began her walk. Witnesses said they heard Molly cry out before she was swept away. Tina, another elephant present at the scene, managed to reach safety before the current became too strong. “We moved quickly together with the community to search the area,” Emma Chandra, a spokesperson for Bali Zoo, said at a press conference on Dec. 18. A search party found Molly’s carcass downstream on Dec. 17 and covered it with a tarpaulin until they could take it away. Local Balinese Hindus arrived at the site with offerings and prayers. Evacuating the 2.5-metric-ton carcass proved difficult, as it was found in a deep valley surrounded by large boulders. When they finally retrieved the body, officials buried it on the grounds of the zoo, where Molly had lived since 2013. The latest official government report on Sumatran elephants,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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