KOTA KINABALU: The Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry will meet Sabah wildlife authorities to establish the reason behind scores of elephant deaths in and around oil palm estates in the state.
Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin was taken aback when she was told that many Bornean pygmy elephants died in plantation areas in the Sabah east coast areas.
The recent one involved a rescued female calf, estimated to be two years old, that succumbed to its injuries on Tuesday.
This is after wildlife veterinarians amputated its foot which was nearly severed from a trap in an oil palm estate in the Tungku area of the Lahad Datu district.
“I just heard about this elephant calf dying from its injuries,” Zuraida said after attending the Malaysian Cocoa Industry Awards ceremony here on Wednesday evening.
“As wildlife matters are being managed by the state government through the Sabah Wildlife Department, I think we need to engage them because I am not aware of the many deaths (involving elephants).
“We need to find out the reasons (behind the deaths), (why) they are happening at oil palm plantations, and see how we can overcome this,” she said, adding she will also consider using allocations from her ministry’s green fund to aid the conservation of the animals.
Zuraida said this when asked about her ministry’s action plan to resolve the alarming number of deaths involving the endangered Asian elephant sub-species.
The latest incident involving the calf is another case in a string of deaths involving pygmy elephants that have been a protected species in Sabah over the past decade.
Pygmy elephants have been facing threats from poaching and human-elephant conflicts, with some dying of unknown causes.
Many have also been poisoned and shot in past incidents.
