KOTA KINABALU: Wildlife officials are investigating the possible involvement of ivory poachers in the recent decapitation of elephants in Sabah’s east coast.
State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Christina Liew said, however, that substantial proof is still needed to show that ivory poaching was the motive.
The carcass of a decapitated Bornean pygmy elephant was found at the Tibow-Sapulut area near Tawau earlier this month.
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In January, a headless elephant carcass was found along the Kalabakan road in Tawau.
These are just two of six reports of elephant decapitations received by the Sabah Wildlife Department since last year.
Liew said the authorities were still trying to determine what exactly killed the elephants.
She added that Malaysia does not allow the use of ivory as dowry or any such practice, and it could also be that these killings occurred because of animal encroachment on farms and estates.
“We won’t know for sure until the Wildlife Department has made a thorough investigation and come up with concrete answers, with proof and a suspect to charge,” she said on Wednesday (April 9).
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Department director Mohd Soffian Abu Bakar said there were indications of an emerging trend of ivory poaching.
Soffian said decapitation was a faster way for the suspected poachers to make off with the ivory, instead of trying to remove it from the elephants' skulls at the scene of the killing and risk getting caught.
“The culprits could quickly get the head and leave for a hideout (to do) whatever they needed to do,” he said.
There were also suspicions that the elephants were killed after encroaching on estates or farms, with opportunistic ivory hunters coming along to take the heads later.
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Earlier, Liew said she believed villagers or estate workers in the areas where these elephants were found knew the identity of the culprits but were reluctant to inform the authorities.
She said her ministry would work with the Wildlife Department to draw up incentive schemes and other ways to encourage informers to come forward.
Liew added that the ministry is also working to strengthen enforcement on the ground, but it is an uphill task given the vast area to be covered.
Among some measures in place are the 10-year wildlife action plan, which is in its mid-term review, while the Wildlife Department is in the process of hiring some 300 local rangers to facilitate patrols and enforcement, and charging offenders in court.
There are only some 1,500 endangered pygmy elephants left in the wild in Sabah, with the numbers feared to dwindle by the year.
Liew said the situation was alarming and the authorities are doing as much as possible to protect the elephants and prevent them from ending up like the Sumatran rhinoceros, which became extinct in the country in 2019.
