Jumbo with unique 'sabre' tusks found killed

KOTA KINABALU: Conservationists entered the New Year in shock as a Borneo pygmy elephant with unique “sabre” tusks was found brutally killed.

The elephant had actually been rescued from a plantation in Tawau three months earlier and fitted with a satellite collar as part of efforts to monitor its movements.

The animal's skeletal remains were found in the Segama conservation area on the eve of New Year, hardly a week after another elephant was found dead in the same area.

The remains of the sabre-tusked elephant were found on Saturday.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) said that based on information from the satellite collar, the unique sabre-tusked elephant might have been killed on Nov 20.

The elephant’s remains and the satellite collar were discovered on Saturday morning.

When contacted DGFC director Dr Benoit Goossens said the remains were found by a DGFC and Wildlife Rescue Unit team about 1.5km away from where the other elephant was found on Dec 26.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga could not be immediately reached for comment over the incident.