KOTA KINABALU: It is difficult to determine who exactly is the most likely suspect in the inhumane killing and mutilation of an endangered Borneo pygmy elephant near the Maliau Basin, says Datuk Christina Liew.
The Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister said while investigators have yet to identify the suspects, they were working round the clock to get to the bottom of it.
She said investigators needed time to come up with answers, as the incident only happened a few days ago.
“Once we’ve identified the perpetrator, we will take action. I am very upset by this,” she said, adding that the carcass was discovered in the wild by the side of a road.
“Who did it? Is it a worker? A passer-by? The boss of a plantation? We don’t know yet but trust me, we will not be hesitant to take action. It is very inhumane,” Liew stressed.
She said the state is going all out to protect elephants and various other species and yet there are still those who do something like beheading a protected elephant.
“I want to warn these people not to do this again because we will not hesitate to take stern action. I was told that the carcass was found outside a plantation area,” she told reporters after the launch of the Tourism Insights Day 2025 here, Friday (Jan 23).
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.
On this note, Liew said the launch of the elephant food corridor in Kalabakan recently is one way to minimise human-animal conflicts in Sabah, including in plantations.
She hopes with this and others planned as well as ongoing related projects in the pipeline, the conservation and protection of wildlife can be enhanced.
