KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is carrying out a full investigation into the beheading of an endangered Borneo pygmy elephant with state Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Seri Christina Liew describing it as an inhumane act.
"I have instructed the Sabah Wildlife Department director to conduct a full-fledged investigation into the discovery of the decapitated baby elephant in Kalabakan.
"Once the department has gathered sufficient evidence, we will not hesitate to get the alleged perpetrator charged in court under the provisions of the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997," she said in a statement on Tuesday (Jan 22).
In condemning the brutal killing of Sabah's iconic elephant, she said it was an appalling incident done by unscrupulous individuals.
Liew lamented that her ministry through Sabah Wildlife Department was doing its utmost to protect and conserve the dwindling elephant population in Sabah.
"There are still some heartless people lurking in our midst who undermine the efforts of the authorities to protect our elephants," she added.
On Sunday (Jan 20), an elephant was found brutally murdered about 25km from the Maliau Basin along the Kalabakan road in Sabah's east coast Tawau district.
A passing motorist spotted the decapitated elephant and informed the Wildlife Department.
The wildlife department, who have also lodged a police report on the incident, has begun investigations and carried out a post-mortem on the elephant.
Conservationists suspect that the elephant was shot before its head was removed by suspected poachers.
The decapitation of the elephants and the removal of the limbs is probably one of the most brutal attacks on Sabah's gentle giants, as conservationists affectionately call them.
Based on previously reported cases, elephants have been killed for their tusks but rarely do poachers decapitate the elephants.
Sabah is fighting to conserve the elephants with an estimated population of between 1,500 to 2.000 in Sabah's wild.
