KOTA KINABALU: The carcass of an orang utan has been found floating down the Kinabatangan River, according to a social media post.
Facebook user Addy Samduddin posted videos of efforts to recover the animal, which was brought to Sabah Wildlife Department veterinarians for a post-mortem.
Wildlife officials confirmed the recovery but declined to divulge any details.
Department director Augustine Tuuga could not be reached immediately regarding the incident, believed to have occurred on Monday (Feb 12).
Based on the shared videos, conservationists estimate that the orang utan was a male between its late teens and early 20s.
They explained that it was not uncommon for orang utan to fall from trees into rivers and drown, especially when the water level is high.
Orang utans are not known to be swimmers, they explained but added that the post-mortem would confirm the cause of death.
Orang utans are classified as totally protected under Schedule 1 of the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Enactment in line with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
There are an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 orang utan in Sabah, with the population reported to be stable over the past decade.
