Malaysia: Bullet-riddled carcass of endangered pygmy elephant found in Sabah

The Star 16 Nov 17;

KOTA KINABALU: The bullet-riddled carcass of another Borneo Pygmy Elephant has been found in Sabah's east coast.

The carcass of the bull elephant, with its tusks intact, was found in an oil palm plantation along Jalan Merotai-Kalabakan in Tawau on Tuesday.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said on Thursday that it was likely the bull elephant was shot in another location but managed to escape.

The carcass of the elephant was found by plantation workers and wildlife rangers were alerted to the animal's remains.

On Sept 10, an elephant carcass was found in a plantation near Dumpas in Kalabakan and two weeks later another was found floating along the Kinabatangan river close to the Danau Girang Field Research Centre. Both carcasses were found with their tusks removed.


Bornean pygmy elephant found dead with gunshot wounds in Sabah
POLIANA RONNIE SIDOM New Straits Times 16 Nov 17;

TAWAU: A Bornean pygmy elephant carcass with three gunshot wounds was found within the Cenderamata Plantation at Jalan Merotai-Kalabakan, near here.

Plantation workers discovered the dead bull on Tuesday and alerted the authority. The elephant was believed to have been shot by poachers.

Sabah Wildlife director Augustine Tuuga said the department despatched officers to the site to conduct post-mortem and conduct further investigation.

“The tusk is still intact and post-mortem result found three bullets on the carcass. The elephant could have been shot elsewhere and fled.

“We are trying to track down the culprit and are also looking for those, who witnessed the shooting incident, so they can furnish us with information,” he said.

In September, the carcasses of two Bornean pygmy elephant – one without its tusks – were found in two separate locations in Sabah’s east coast.

The first discovery involved a male calf with its tusks still intact. It was found dead in the plantation area in Dumpas Tawau.

While an adult male elephant was found floating in the Kinabatangan river.

In August, plantation workers also spotted an adult Bornean pygmy elephant struggling for its life after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds in an oil palm plantation the Malua Forest Reserve in Kinabatangan.

The adult female elephant, however, succumbed to its injuries.


Speak out over jumbo killings, WWF urges M’sians
The Star 20 Nov 17;

KOTA KINABALU: Malaysians must end their silence over the rampant killing of elephants in Sabah because it is a crime against the nation’s heritage, WWF-Malaysia said.

Its executive director and chief executive officer Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma said that if Malaysians stay quiet, the killers would see it as a sign of weakness.

“It (silence) sends a strong signal to these killers that we support the cold-blooded murder of elephants,” he said in a statement.

He said WWF-Malaysia was appalled by the latest elephant death in Tawau, when it was reported on Nov 16 that a bull elephant was found shot dead.

“This heinous crime demands a thorough investigation and the arrest of the culprits so that they can be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” he said, adding that the elephants’ protected status was not being taken seriously.

He said whether the elephants were killed by poachers or in heated confrontations with humans, the fact remains that the country’s elephants have been killed at the rate of about one every two months since October last year.

“For an endangered species that numbers fewer than 2,000, as estimated back in 2010, and is mostly found in Sabah, this crime is beyond worrying,” Dr Dionysius said.

No one has been arrested over the elephant killings because information is scarce and there are no clues as to the killers’ identities.

“This elephant killing is a crime against Malaysians. Borneo elephants are our green heritage and should be protected,” he added.