Malaysia: Hot on trail of elephant with broken tusk that killed tourist

Roy Goh and Avila Geraldine New Straits Times 11 Dec 11;
Team from Wildlife Department scours the 120,000ha reserve on foot

THE search for an elephant with a broken tusk that gored an Australian tourist to death continues at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve here.

A team from the Wildlife Department's wildlife rescue unit was on alert, conducting foot patrols within the 120,000ha reserve, to search for the bull elephant.

If found, the elephant is expected to be translocated to an elephant sanctuary.

On Wednesday, Australian tourist Jenna O'Grady Donley, who was due to graduate as a veterinarian on Friday from Sydney University, died after she was attacked by the elephant not far from the Tabin Wildlife Resort.

Her friend, Ashley Kelly, and a guide from the resort escaped unhurt in the attack.

They had earlier gone to the mud volcano in the reserve before veering off from the main trail, which was normally used by the resort's guests, into the forest where the incident occurred.

Following the fatal incident, Tabin Wildlife Holidays Sdn Bhd has stopped guests from trekking to some parts of the resort, including preventing them from walking the elephant trail.

The resort also forbids its guests from venturing alone and too far from the resort.

Tales of the elephant making occasional appearances within the reserve have also surfaced among the small number of people who work in the area, about 50km from the town centre.

Akilan Amsaludin, 57, who works as a foreman maintaining the road and drainage system in the area, said he had had several encounters with elephants since he first arrived at the reserve in August.

The experience working deep in the jungle has made him cautious about getting too close to the animals, especially those that roam on their own.

"If they are tunggal (solitary male elephants), I will keep my distance," said Akilan, who claimed to have seen the elephant with the broken tusk twice before the attack happened.

In his last encounter, Akilan took a photograph of the elephant using his mobile phone and revealed that he even "spoke" to the animal, asking it for permission to be in the area.

He believed in "communicating" with animals and had even sacrificed chickens and goats to appease the wildlife in the reserve.

"This place is panas and it's part of my beliefs to do these things," he said, adding that he and 10 other workers had never been attacked.

John Toledo, 55, who does maintenance work in the reserve, said encounters with wildlife, including elephants, was a regular occurrence for him and his colleagues.

"We have even strategically positioned two containers to protect us in case the elephants appear," he said.

About 1,500 tourists visit the Tabin Wildlife Resort nature trails every year and about 80 per cent are from abroad.

Going in search of wild elephants has always been the highlight at Tabin although it also offers the best bird-watching site in Borneo.

Witnesses: Killer elephant was in musth
Muguntan Vanar The Star 11 Dec 11;

KOTA KINABALU: The Borneo pygmy elephant that gored Australian tourist Jenna O'Grady Donley to death at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve on Dec 7 was said to be in musth.

(Musth is a state or condition of violent, destructive frenzy occurring with the rutting season in male elephants, accompanied by the exudation of an oily substance from glands between the eyes and mouth.)

Witnesses had observed that the bull elephant was discharging the oil-black substance from its ears which, experts said, was a secretion known as temporin (a thick tar-like secretion).

“It looks like Donley was just in the wrong place. It was unfortunate that this particular elephant was in musth and was aggressive,”' a source here told The Star.

He said elephants in musth, including those in captivity, have attacked humans before.

Sydney-based veterinarian Donley, 26, was gored by the bull elephant while she was taking pictures of the animal during a morning outing at the wildlife reserve with her friend Ashley Kelly and a guide from the nearby Tabin Wildlife Resort.

The other two managed to flee from the angry animal. However, Donley, who arrived in Malaysia on Nov 26 for a holiday in Sabah, had no time to escape.

Donley recently completed a thesis on renal failure in big cats and was due to graduate with first class honours on Dec 16.

Sydney University veterinary science faculty dean Prof Rosanne Taylor said Donley was a dean's list prize winner and a future leader of the profession.

“She was very much the face of Australian veterinarians of the future ... she will be very much missed.”