KOTA KINABALU: In Sabah’s sprawling oil palm estates, wild elephants still roam – a living symbol of heritage, but also a frequent source of conflict.
A new debate has now surfaced: should these elephants be fitted with GPS collars not just for research and protection but also as a tourism draw?
Yesterday, grassroots conservation group Seratu Aatai warned that collaring elephants simply to make them trackable for visitors would be “reckless and cruel”.
“Collars come with risks. Elephants must be darted, sedated and handled, which endangers both animals and people,” the group said in a Facebook post, adding that tourism can further disrupt natural behaviour.
The group cited the Serengeti as a cautionary tale, highlighting how overtourism has disrupted the once-majestic annual Great Migration.
“Why repeat the same mistake here by turning elephants’ struggles into a tourism product?” the group asked.
However, conservationist Shavez Cheema of 1StopBorneo Wildlife pushed back, calling the post misleading.
He highlighted the Plant4BorneoElephants initiative, where collared elephants not only aided enforcement and research but also drew respectful wildlife watchers into plantations.
“The results? Hundreds of visitors saw elephants responsibly, creating jobs and economic spin-offs for local groups and the state,” he wrote.
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with using collared elephants for both research and tourism.”
For Shavez, collars are also tools of protection.
“When we tracked collared elephants twice, we saw fresh snares on their trunks, reported them and had them fixed,” he said.
“That’s a win-win for elephants and people.”
Former Sabah Wildlife Department senior veterinarian Dr Sen Nathan also joined the discussion in support, saying that conservation demands flexible strategies which are tailored for different landscapes.
“As long as collaring and related ecotourism initiatives are done responsibly and transparently, there is no real harm,” he said, noting that plantation-based monitoring may even cause less disturbance than the 20 to 30 boats crowding Kinabatangan’s rivers daily.
However, both sides agree on one point – elephants are already navigating a fragmented landscape, and solutions must strike a balance between conservation, community safety and economic realities.
