Elephant calf crossing Kota Tinggi-Mersing road killed by car

KOTA TINGGI: A male elephant calf died on the spot after being hit by a car at Batu 10 of Jalan Kota Tinggi-Mersing here.

Johor Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) director Salman Saaban said the department received a report on the incident at around 7.45am on Tuesday (Sept 1) morning.

He added that a team was deployed there, whereupon they found the carcass of an elephant calf on the side of the road.

"The calf is believed to be between one and two years old, and it died due to being hit by a car.

"Investigations showed that the car was heading from Kota Tinggi to Mersing before hitting the young elephant," he said.

Salman said they then conducted a surveillance of the scene and found between two and three adult elephants still in the area.

"The area is a known hot spot for elephant crossing, and this is the third case. Two other elephants died from being hit by a vehicle on Oct 6, last year and on May 21,2018.

"The carcass will be buried after the department has recorded its morphology," he said.