Malaysia: Six rowdy Sabah jumbos caught

The Star 6 Mar 18;

KOTA KINABALU: Six elephants out of a herd of 20, which had been damaging the property and crops of villagers in Sabah’s central Telupid district, have been captured by rangers from the state’s Wildlife Rescue Unit (WRU).

WRU acting manager Dr Diana Ramirez said they included several aggressive ones.

“Our latest capture was a female elephant, one of the identified aggressive ones,” she said in a statement.

Dr Ramirez said they were working hard to keep elephants and villagers safe.

“Things are going as planned so far,” she added.

One of the males named Telupid, which was captured earlier, will be released at a forest reserve far from villagers.

Dr Ramirez added the herd, including several calves, had gone into plantations, housing areas, schools and the Beluran police station in search for food.



Telupid elephant crisis: Seven unruly pachyderms captured for translocation
KRISTY INUS New Straits Times 7 mar 18;

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) has captured a herd of seven elephants which has been wreaking havoc in the Telupid area – five of which have already been translocated.

Its director Augustine Tuuga said the seventh pachyderm, a female, was caught yesterday.

The six elephants caught earlier were captured between Feb 22 and March 5, and comprise three female adults, two male adults and a male calf.

"The last two caught, both female, are waiting for the Hitachi (company to make) translocation arrangements," he said when contacted.

While the earlier-captured elephants were released in the Imbak forest reserve, the last two are likely to be sent to the Deramakot forest reserve.

Asked about the cost of operations so far, Augustine replied: "We have not counted (the total), but the estimate is RM30,000 per translocation.

"But there is also a lot of (assistance) coming from individuals and private companies, including food for the elephants while waiting for translocation," he added.

On what suggestions the Department will make when they meet with Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun this week to discuss human-elephant conflicts, he declined to elaborate.

Previously, the NSTP reported that elephants have been trespassing through several villages in Telupid, with the most recent incident involving cases of pachyderms entering a secondary school and separately, a police station.