Ecowatch: At a crossroads over wildlife roadkill

Remember this heartbreaking picture? After her calf was run over and killed, the mother elephant went on a rampage and destroyed the front of the lorry. She finally stod still, a picture of dejection, and let Perhilitan wrap a chain around her ankle ahead of moving her. — Photo courtesy of Perhilitan/May 2025

BY now, everyone would have read about the elephant whose calf was killed by a lorry along KM80 of the Gerik-Jeli stretch of the East-West Highway in May 2025.

At the very least, everyone would have seen the heartbreaking pictures on social media: the mother elephant standing, exhausted and blood spattered, near the offending vehicle, and the body of the calf mowed down dead under the wheels.