Elephant from herd in conflict with Sabah villagers for past three years captured

KOTA KINABALU: Wildlife officers have captured a bull Borneo pygmy elephant, part of a herd that has been in conflict with villagers in east coast Beluran district for about three years.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Datuk Augustine Tuuga said its officers and some villagers had been tracking the movements of the elephants at Kg Ulu Muanad for two weeks and finally managed to capture one on Thursday (July 19).

He said that they would be moving the animal far away from Ulu Maunad, but did not disclosed where.

Tuuga said that they were still tracking three more elephants, and hoped to capture and translocate them as soon as possible.

He said the human-elephant conflict at Ulu Muanad had been festering since November 2015 and the herd is believed to be responsible for causing up to RM200,000 a year in crop damage, among others.

He said the Sandakan Wildlife Office worked closely with the Ulu Muanad community, NGO The Forest Trust as well as IJM plantation and formed a team of village youth to handle to situation.

Wildlife conservationists are growing concern over a sudden spike in deaths of elephants with some 16 found dead since April this year.

The cause of the animals' deaths have yet to be ascertained as post-mortem examinations on the carcasses provided no conclusive evidence for wildlife rangers investigating the cases.