Sabah Wildlife Dept investigating death of pygmy elephant in Kalabakan district

KOTA KINABALU: A Bornean pygmy elephant was found dead with no visible injury marks on its body at an oil palm plantation in Sabah’s east coast Kalabakan district.

A worker had found the bull elephant, its age estimated to be over 30 years, at the Mawang Brantian plantation on Wednesday (Oct 12).

Tawau wildlife officer Primus Lambut said they were informed of the discovery at about 4pm, adding a team of four wildlife personnel was immediately deployed to the location to establish the animal’s cause of death.

“Based on initial checks, there was no injury on the elephant which is estimated to be about 2m in height,” he said when contacted on Friday (Oct 14).

He also said the elephant was not the one reported to be frequently entering the Merotai area previously.

“This is a different elephant. A postmortem will be carried to ascertain its cause of death soon,” he said.

A photo of a dead elephant at the Mawang Brantian plantation had gone viral over Facebook since Thursday (Oct 13).

Human-elephant conflict remains a challenge in the Sabah east coast.

On Sept 23, a 67-year-old woman died following an elephant attack in the Tawau district.

Tawau OCPD Asst Comm Jasmin Hussin said the victim was on a motorcycle with her husband when the incident occurred near the Dumpas estate.

Following the attack, a herd of about 40 to 50 Borneo pygmy elephants were guided to safer areas by wildlife rangers.

Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin said state Wildlife Department investigations indicated that the herd was possibly heading towards food sources in the area as fresh oil palm chipping operations were ongoing at the time.