Malaysia: Land owners to be held responsible for elephant deaths on their land

Olivia Miwil New Straits Times 30 Aug 18;

KOTA KINABALU: No one will be spared from being held liable should elephant killings take place on their land, including at forest reserves in Sabah.

Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment minister Christina Liew was responding to a report that the state recorded 25 elephant deaths in the first eight months of this year which is higher than in previous years.

The government has offered a reward of RM120,000 to those who can furnish details on the killing of elephants, but to date no one had come forward.

“The (Sabah Wildlife department) director (Augustine Tuuga) has power to prosecute...land owners will be asked to come and explain why elephants die at their land.

“An elephant expert from United States is also coming, a special unit will be formed to help us solve the (elephants) issue,” she said after the 50th anniversary celebration of the ministry here.

Meanwhile, Augustine said there could be many possibilities that lead to the killing of elephants which is most likely due to human-elephant conflict that has been going on for many years.

NSTP had also reported last month that a herd of 30 elephants had wreaked havoc in Telupid which damaged many farms and property.

“Due to the conflict, elephants spend most of the time at plantations and they could be feeding on pesticide and herbicide, or even be more exposed to poachers.

“In recent cases of elephant killings, they were shot but the tusks were still intact or left with the carcass,” he said.

Augustine said none of the 25 elephant deaths this year were brought to court as there is no solid evidence.

The department was still investigating the death of 14 Borneo Pygmy elephants at Gunung Rara forest reserve in Tawau which occurred between Dec 2012 and Jan 2013.

“Nobody wants to come forward as a witness and poachers usually do it (the killing) at night when no one can see them,” he said, adding it was believed there were fewer than 2,000 Borneo pygmy elephants left in the wild.


Elephant deaths: Sabah to go after plantation owners, smallholders
natasha joibi The Star 30 Aug 18;

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government is sending a stern warning to landowners that they will be held accountable for the deaths of Borneo pygmy elephants on their property.

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Christina Liew said the government will invoke the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 law against landowners whose properties are found to have snare traps or other trapping devices.

The Deputy Chief Minister said neither smallholders nor big plantation owners will be spared from being investigated under Section 33 of the Act for prohibited methods of hunting.

Liew added that under this particular law, the Sabah Wildlife Department director has the power to prosecute those involved in the deaths of elephants.

“We will ask the landowners to come and explain why elephants were killed on their land.

“We have to turn to this last resort as the killings have been rampant and we feel sorry that these elephants were killed unnecessarily.

“Whatever the motive, the killings have to stop. This law will be enforced with immediate effect, starting today,” she told reporters after attending her ministry's 50th-anniversary celebration here on Thursday (Aug 30).

Liew, who is also Tawau MP, said the operators of forest reserves would also be investigated if elephants were found dead in their area.

“Some people think because the elephants died in forest reserves or on government land, that we would be lenient.

“No, no more. So far we have done everything we can, and we have been advising them. These human-elephant conflicts have been going on long enough.

“Now that the situation has become worse, we have no choice but to invoke the law,” she said.

Recently, WWF-Malaysia urged the government to look into amending the enactment to help counter the worrying number of elephant deaths from snare traps in Sabah.

The organisation suggested the Act be amended to include a strict liability provision for private landowners to be held accountable, and they would have to prove their innocence should an elephant die on their land or if evidence of illegal activities such as snares, hunting platforms and pitfall traps are found in their area.

Through this provision, the burden of proof will be reversed, which would mean that it no longer lies with prosecutors.

Four elephants, including a cow and its calf shot by poachers, have died over the last weekend, with a fifth injured by snare traps in the state's east coast.

The latest deaths bring to 25 the number of elephants killed in the first eight months of this year, with most of the deaths discovered in the past four months.


Pygmy elephant deaths in Borneo prompt Malaysian probe
Reuters New Straits Times 30 Aug 18;

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is investigating a surge in the number of deaths of pygmy elephants, an endangered species found in the tropical rainforests of Borneo, wildlife authorities said on Thursday.

Twenty five pygmy elephants have died in the Malaysian state of Sabah this year, Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga told Reuters.

"This is the highest recorded so far," Augustine said, referring to annual fatalities. Over 100 elephants have died in the last eight years in Sabah.

Conservation group WWF estimates that only around 1,500 elephants are left.

Baby-faced with oversized ears and long tails that drag on the ground, pygmy elephants are found on Borneo island which is shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

Loss of habitat is the biggest threat for the pygmy elephants, with deforestation, logging and rapid expansion of palm oil plantations contributing to the decline in their population. The elephants also fall prey to poachers or traps set up to catch animals.

Authorities have been unable to determine the exact reasons for the higher number of deaths this year, but Augustine said they have noticed elephants spending more time outside of forests and in plantations.

The rich rainforests of Borneo are surrounded by vast palm oil plantations. Palm oil companies in Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's top two producers of the vegetable oil, have been accused of doing little to protect wildlife and their habitat.

The latest reported death in Sabah was on Saturday, when wildlife officers found the slightly decomposed carcass of a female elephant in a plantation, with what they believe was a gunshot wound at its temple.

There have been at least two other deaths by shooting and many others caused by injuries from traps.

Bringing the killers to justice has proven to be difficult, due to the remoteness of the locations and the sheer lack of information and witnesses, Augustine said.

No witnesses have come forward despite a reward offer of 120,000 ringgit ($29,200), he said.

WWF Malaysia called on palm oil companies to take more action.

Four male elephants died from snare injuries in the past two months and all of them were found in plantations bordering forest reserves, WWF said in a statement this week.

"Even more worrisome than the number of elephant deaths are the number of elephants that have died due to strategically placed snare traps within their habitat," the conservation group said. -- REUTERS