Poisoned baby Borneo pygmy elephant survives

Kejora's caretaker giving the baby elephant a bath at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park.

KOTA KINABALU: An ailing baby Borneo pygmy elephant, the sole survivor of a poisoning that killed a herd of 14 elephants including its mother in January, is out of the woods.

The calf Baby Kejora @ Joe has gained weight and is now socialising with other elephants at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park here as veterinarians believe that the elephant is now in good health.

“He is very healthy and has gained over 100 kg over the past few months, from 90kg when we rescued him to almost 200kg now,” said Sabah Wildlife Department Assistant Director Dr. Sen Nathan.

Sen said Joe had even made friends with another rescue, a four-year-old elephant – Pikang which brought to the zoo after it was found with half his trunk gone during a wildlife operation in Lahad Datu six months back.

“Its trunk was believed to have been cut off due to an old trap before we found him,” he explained.

“Joe is looking at the things Pikang does, and observes the leaves Pikang takes before tasting them himself,” he added.

The story of Joe also caught attention of many nations after it was photographed trying to wake his dead mother up at the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve about 140km from Tawau on Jan 25

Meanwhile, Sen said investigations on the elephant poisoning were ongoing although they know what was the poison used to kill them.

“However, we are still unable to identify who the culprits are,” he said.

Sen also said the calf might see the next 10 years or its whole life as a permanent resident of the zoo, as it was now used to being around human and out of the wild.

“Nevertheless Joe is a very happy elephant,” he said.