Baby elephant on brink of death saved in Sabah

Roy Goh, New Straits Times 24 May 10;

KOTA KINABALU: A baby elephant on the brink of death was rescued in the east coast district of Lahad Datu.

Weak and dehydrated, the female calf appeared to have been abandoned when found by the wildlife rescue unit of the Sabah Wildlife Department last week.

Now recuperating at the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary in Sandakan, the department is keeping its fingers crossed that the calf responds well to treatment and its new surroundings.

Dr Sen Nathan of the rescue unit said had there been a delay of even a couple of hours, the calf could have died at the plantation near the Ulu Segama Forest Reserve last Tuesday.

"How it got separated from its mother is anyone's guess. Our rangers patrolled the area near the Ladang Felcra/ KTS for several days but they could not find any elephants."

He said the rescue team was initially worried because during the first 24-hours, the baby elephant did not accept milk from a bottle when fed at the sanctuary.


"It responded well to our treatment though and eventually by the third day the calf started feeding," Dr Sen said, adding the calf was about six months old.

Sabah Wildlife director Laurentius Ambu said the rescue team was sent after the department received information from a plantation worker at Ladang Felcra/ KTS.

"This unit was formed to respond to such situations," he said of the smart partnership between the department, Malaysian Palm Oil Council and a well known resort in Sabah.


"Apart from undertaking wildlife rescue, the unit is also responsible for translocation operations across the state as well as enforcement and monitoring.

"The unit would also act as liaison with stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations, plantations and communities on wildlife conservation activities," he added.

Dying Borneo Pygmy elephant calf rescued in Malaysia
Yahoo News 24 May 10;

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Malaysian wildlife authorities said Monday they had rescued an endangered Borneo Pygmy elephant calf that had been separated from its mother and found dying in a plantation.

The six-month-old elephant was weak and dehydrated when found last week after plantation workers alerted the wildlife department in eastern Sabah state, on Borneo island, its chief veterinarian Sen Nathan said.

He said the calf was lost in the plantation for at least three days before it was rescued.

"A calf relies entirely on the mother and if it is not fed for that long, this would have normally killed the elephant," he told AFP

"Its condition was bad, and it could have died from dehydration," Nathan said, adding an elephant was only capable of looking after itself after it turned three.

"It refused to drink the formula milk we fed during the first 24 hours, but now it has gotten used to it and is drinking from the bottle. Its condition has stabilised and it is recovering," he added.

Pygmy elephants are unique to Borneo and form a sub-species of the Asian elephant. It has a rounded appearance and males stand only about 2.5 metres (8.2 feet) tall, compared to about 3.0 metres for mainland Asian elephants.

Authorities say the elephant species is considered endangered, with around 1,500-2,000 left on Borneo island.

Wildlife activists have warned that Borneo Pygmy elephants are fast losing their natural habitat to deforestation and human encroachment following a two-year satellite tracking study in 2007.

Baby elephant recovering
New Straits Times 2 Jun 10;

KOTA KINABALU: The baby elephant, found on the brink of death two weeks ago, looks set to be the Wildlife and National Parks Department's latest attraction.

Mischievous and hyperactive, the female calf has been named "Humi", in short for "huminodun", the legendary princess sacrificed for the sake of mankind in the Kadazandusun folklore.

The department's latest heath report on Humi, now at the Sepilok Orang Utan sanctuary in Sandakan, stated that she was healthy, compared with the time she was found dying in Lahad Datu on May 18.

Department officers had then found Humi abandoned near the Ulu Segama forest reserve.