Sanctuary fire likely caused by poachers

Creeping blaze: Part of the forest fire spreading to Lot 1 of the wildlife reserve in Kinabatangan, Sandakan.

KOTA KINABALU: Poachers may have caused a fire that razed nearly 100ha of forest in the wildlife-rich lower Kinabatangan Sanctuary.

Sabah Forestry Department director Datuk Sam Mannan said rangers found the carcass of a deer and bullet casings in the area, suggesting that poachers could have killed the deer and cooked it there.