10 rare pygmy elephants found dead in Borneo

Ten endangered pygmy elephants have been found dead this month in Malaysian Borneo and are thought to have been poisoned, conservation officials said Tuesday.

A pygmy elephant calf can be seen on Malaysia's Borneo island in this image provided by Malaysia wildlife authorities on January 21, 2012. Ten endangered pygmy elephants have been found dead this month in Borneo and are thought to have been poisoned, conservation officials said Tuesday.

Wildlife authorities in Sabah, a state on the eastern tip of the island, have formed a taskforce together with the police and WWF to investigate the deaths.

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Local elephants facing extinction

PETALING JAYA (Dec 13, 2012): Elephants in Peninsular Malaysia are in danger of becoming extinct, says World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia.

It is estimated that there are only about 1,220 to 1,680 Asian elephants left in Peninsular Malaysia. This is based on the data collected from 2000 to 2012 by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP).

WWF Malaysia Species Conservation manager Dr Han Kwai Hin said habitat loss, illegal hunting, and retaliatory killing are the major threats that cause the number of wild elephants to dwindle.



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24 tons of ivory seized in Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur -

Malaysian customs have seized 24 tons of unprocessed elephant tusks worth almost $20 million, the largest haul in the country to date, officials said on Tuesday.

About 1 500 tusks hidden in two containers were discovered by customs officials at the country's main port of Klang, in the western state of Selangor.

The tusks had been hidden within pieces of timber inside the containers, which had originated from the west African nation of Togo.

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Our gentle giants running out of space

Sporadic reports of elephant sightings have brought into sharp focus the continuously accelerating rate of which we are losing wildlife habitat, a concern that indicates elephants are running out of space and time.

Incidents of human-elephant conflict have increased. Degradation and the diversion of elephant habitat for human activities creates a clear need to adopt insightful and proactive measures to secure a future for what is one of the world’s most exotic, intelligent, and humble animals.

Increasing amounts of land granted to large iron ore mines seriously threatens the pachyderms. The fragile ecosystem sustaining some of the earth’s most endangered species is collapsing under the weight of relentless industrialization, as the government pushes ahead with pro-industry policies in the name of development...

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'Switch on your electric fences' Sabah Wildlife director

KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia - The use of electric fencing at plantations can help ease human-elephant conflicts, said Sabah Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu.

However, he said despite the fact that some big landowners had fenced their estates to avoid crop raiding, many owners still did not switch on the power on their electric fences.

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Sanctuary near Kenyir Lake attracts 31,140 local and foreign visitors

R.S.N. MURALI, The Star
May 1, 2009

HULU TERENGGANU: In just a year, the Sungai Ketiar elephant sanctuary in the hinterland of Kenyir Lake has wooed an outstanding 31,140 visitors.

Both locals and foreigners, the visitors travelled 95km from Kuala Berang to see the three wild Asian elephants, including a female calf, at the sanctuary.

Another 150 wild jumbos will be added to the 15,000ha site over the next three years.

Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said, who visited the sanctuary recently, expressed contentment over its progress.

“It is a unique tourism product the state will focus on while promoting the other attractions already in place at the Kenyir area,” he said.

Ahmad said the visitors could feed the tame elephants and ride on them over a large area.

He said the sanctuary was accessible via the Kuala Berang-Tasik Kenyir-Aring-Gua Musang bypass road.

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Forestry staff in coma after bashing by poachers

Daily Express
April 24, 2009


Kota Kinabalu: The Forestry Department has been forced to engage the
services of a security firm with armed personnel following a retaliatory
attack by a group of suspected illegal hunters earlier this month.


The attack, involving a group of about 20 men, armed with machetes,
brass knuckles, hockey sticks, samurai swords, rambo knives and sticks,
among others, occurred at the Ulu Segama-Malua District Forestry Office
Base Camp at Sungai Kawag, Ulu Segama Forest Reserve, Lahad Datu at
about 9pm on April 2.


Sabah Forestry Department Director Datuk Sam Mannan said the one-hour
incident left District Forestry Officer Indra Sunjoto seriously injured
and unconscious.
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Terengganu to focus on tourism (Malaysia) By SIMON KHOO and R.S.N. MURALI, The Star April 18, 2009 KUALA TERENGGANU: The state government plans to

By SIMON KHOO and R.S.N. MURALI, The Star
April 18, 2009

KUALA TERENGGANU: The state government plans to make tourism its main revenue earner instead of just depending on royalties from petroleum and gas, Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said said.

Ahmad (BN-Kijal) said plans were in the pipeline to increase more tourist products to attract more visitors, citing the recent opening of a mini zoo in Kemaman and beautification of Tasik Kenyir as examples.

“We want to make the tourism sector our backbone and top revenue earner in the years to come.

“This is because unlike commodities like petroleum and gas, it would not deplete in supply.

“The recent flunctuation of global oil price also create uncertainties,” he said in his winding up speech at the last day sitting of the state assembly here on Wedneday.

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Wildlife under threat

The Star
March 31, 2009

AT the rate of deforestation and habitat fragmentation in their state, Johoreans will have to brace for more human-wildlife conflicts.

The northern and eastern districts of Johor – Segamat, Mersing, and Kota Tinggi – can expect to experience more intrusions of elephants, in particular, into plantations and other farm land.
As forests are cleared. wild jumbos have to be relocated to other areas.

The southern state has witnessed a prolonged conflict with the pachyderm since the late 1980s as forests were cleared for human settlements and converted into agricultural land especially for oil palm plantations by the private sector as well as the Felda (Federal Land Development Agency) scheme.

The problem is to be expected as these forests are important wildlife habitats, judging from the three huge areas gazetted – the Endau-Kluang, Endau-Kota Tinggi and Segamat Wildlife Reserves (WR) – in 1933. Segamat WR has ceased to exist today.

The Department of Wildlife and National Park (Perhilitan) has translocated 99 elephants from this region since 1994. The displaced creatures were mostly relocated to Endau Rompin National Park and the Terengganu side of Taman Negara.

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Elephant Attack: 18,000 Oil Palm Trees Destroyed

Bernama
April 04, 2009


GUA MUSANG, April 4 (Bernama) - A company, which has been awarded a contract to plant oil palms near Pos Blau here, suffered huge losses when 18,000 of the one-year-old palm trees in the 600 hectare plantation were destroyed by elephants since a month ago.

Syarikat Pembangunan Ladang Khazanah Nadi Alam Enterprise manager, Mohd Khazanah Ab Rahman estimated the company losses at almost RM500,000.

He said a herd of five elephants entered the plantation almost every night and destroyed the oil palm trees, as well as banana trees grown as cash crop at the plantation.

The elephants had destroyed about 10,000 of the 75,000 banana trees in the plantation, he told Bernama here.

Mohd Khazanah said workers at the plantation had taken various measures, including burning old tyres at night, to keep away the elephants, but were futile, adding that replanting of the oil palms would be carried out only after the pachyderm returned to the forest area.

He said the attacks by the elephants also caused the 60 workers at the plantation to fear for their safety.

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Borneo pygmy elephants, planters battle for land

Niluksi Koswanage, Reuters
February 23, 2009

SUKAU, Malaysia (Reuters Life!) - Deprived of access to his favourite food, a pygmy elephant trumpets furiously and charges at wildlife officials, a manifestation of this rare species' battle against Malaysia's key palm oil industry.

Some herds of pygmy elephants, an endangered species according to conservation body the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), are thriving on the fruit of palm oil plantations that encroach on their domains on Borneo island.

This has intensified the challenges to a mainstay of the economy in this South East Asian country of 27 million people, and the aggression the elephants show against humans.

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New Survey Finds More than 600 Asian Elephants

LiveScience
14 January 2009

A new survey of dung has revealed a population of hundreds of endangered Asian elephants living in a Malaysian park. The animals could be the largest-known set of these pachyderms in Southeast Asia.

The researchers counted dung piles to estimate that there are 631 Asian elephants living in Taman Negara National Park — a 4,343 square kilometer (1,676 square mile) protected area in the center of Peninsular Malaysia. This result confirms the largest-known population of elephants remaining in this part of the world, according to the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Malaysia’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP), which partnered to study the elephants.

Asian elephants are endangered due to habitat loss and poaching; between 30,000 and 50,000 may remain in 13 Asian countries. The Asian elephant is listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and has seen a drastic reduction in total population across its range as a result of illegal poaching, increased human-wildlife conflict and other threats.

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Elephant Problem Solvable If Illegal Logging Stopped

Bernama
January 3, 2009

BANDA ACEH, Jan 3 (Bernama) -- Wild elephant incursions into human settlements in Aceh will continue if nothing is done to stop illegal logging in forest areas, Antara news agency reported quoting a local nature conservation official as saying.
"The problem will persist unless illegal logging is stopped," Andi Basrul, head of the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), said here Saturday.

During December 2008, wild elephants had invaded a number of villages in Aceh, damaged a few houses and injured several people.

Basrul said his agency could not do much to stop the animals' incursions because they were merely reacting to the damage being done to their habitat.

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Injured elephants on the rise, says Sabah wildlife dept

New Straits Times
October 11, 2008

The Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) has a mammoth problem on its hands.

It is increasingly concerned over the rise in the number of injured and dead elephants in the state.
In one instance, a 25-year veteran wildlife guide and lecturer was reduced to tears when he saw a calf (young elephant) in excruciating pain after falling prey to a man-made trap in Kinabatangan.

SWD director Laurentius Ambu noted that the bigger issue facing the department involved elephants getting injured or maimed, mostly due to man-made traps and subsequently succumbing to the injuries.

He said that early last month, a calf was found dead from unknown causes.

“Such traps are usually set by oil palm plantation workers to make ends meet by trapping wild boars and deers for sale to restaurants or self-consumption.

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Visitors To Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary Up 34 Pct In 2007, Says ECER

Bernama
September 29. 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- The National Elephant Conservation Centre in Kuala Gandah has seen a 34 percent increase in visitors in 2007 compared to the previous year.
Earmarked as a wildlife reserve under the East Coast Economic Region (ECER), the centre received a total of 81,017 visitors last year from 60,436 in 2006, ECER said in statement here today.
The centre's elephant unit chief, Nasharuddin Othman, said most of the foreign tourists who visited the elephant sanctuary were from Australia, UK, New Zealand, Japan and Germany.
He said the number of both local and foreign visitors keep increasing every year.
"In 2005, there were 38,863 visitors. This figure rose to 60,436 in 2006. We have attracted a lot of visitors due to the fact that this is the only place in Malaysia where visitors are able to observe closely and understand the handling and management of trans-located Asian elephants," Nasharuddin said.

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Probe into elephant's death

Jaswinder Kaur, NEw Straits Times
September 20, 2008

KOTA KINABALU: The death of a male Borneo Pygmy elephant near a jungle resort in the Kinabatangan district early this month has sparked an investigation by the Sabah Wildlife Department.
The department is probing the cause of death of the elephant, estimated to be about two years old. Its carcass showed no visible injuries.

The department's officer-in-charge in Kota Kinabatangan, Roland Nuin, received information about the dead elephant on Sept 2 and sent a team to the scene.

"Unfortunately, by the time the carcass was found and reported to us, it was already decomposing, which makes it hard for us to determine the cause of death," Nuin said in a statement issued yesterday.

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Rare images captured in the wild

Roy Goh, New Straits Times
September 18, 2008

KOTA KINABALU: Scientists doing research in the jungles of Sabah have recently returned with some exciting photographs.

One was a picture of the rare Sumatran rhinocerous captured with a motion triggered camera, while the other was a series of images of two adult elephants helping a month-old calf across a river.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Laurentius Ambu said both achievements would go a long way in efforts to preserve the two rare and endangered species in the Sabah jungles.

"Monitoring and protection of the animals through the research work done by scientists can boost their number as it helps deter poachers and secure habitat from further degradation and illegal encroachment."

The image of the Sumatran rhino, taken from its rear, is the second made in the wild and this time it was by scientists Ross Jo and Andrew Hearn who are studying the Bornean-clouded leopard under the Global Canopy Programme, which is based in the UK.

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Research on jumbos’ social life

The Star
September 15, 2008

SANDAKAN: A conservationist is now studying the social structure of Sabah’s Borneo elephants after past research had focused on genetics.

“We do not yet understand their actual family structures and group dynamics,” said Nurzhafarina Othman, a biologist at Danau Girang Field Centre.

Nurzhafarina, whose reasearch would be based on actual observations, would be working with the Elephant Conservation Unit (co-founded by French non-governmental organisation Hutan and the Sabah Wildlife Depart-ment).

DNA information would also be collected via the faeces of the elephants.

The data gathered would assist the department in managing the Kinabatangan elephant population.

As the elephants have lost much of their habitat due to land conversion, they need to “zig-zag” across the land to find food, Nurzhafarina said.

“And of course this includes the need to cross rivers to get to feeding grounds.

“However, river crossings are quite stressful for elephants, especially the young, which have to contend with strong currents and the dangers of crocodiles,” said Nurzhafarina.

Wildlife experts worldwide often speak about the protective and nurturing nature of elephants, which are quite regularly seen in the wild.

The Sabah population of Bornean Elephant was estimated at about 1,500 in a 2002 study lead by the department.

First elephant life study takes off in Borneo

Agence France Presse

July 14, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Wildlife researchers have fitted three Bornean elephants with satellite collars in Malaysia's Sabah state, marking the beginning of the first study of their "virtually unknown" social structure.

A conservation biologist in charge of the project said studies on the genetic aspects of the Bornean elephant have been carried out in the past but "we have yet to study their social structure which is virtually unknown."

"The collaring of the elephants is to enhance our access to them," said Nurzhafarina Othman, of the Danau Girang Field Centre.

"We will carry out actual observation and collect DNA information via the faeces of particular individuals," she said in a statement over the weekend.

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Determined elephant just won't give up

Electric New Paper

June 05, 2008

THEY thought their job was almost done. Shoot the rogue elephant with a tranquiliser dart and wait for it to drop.

But Malaysia's Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) team suffered a momentary scare when one of two wild elephants pulled out the dart with its trunk.

Sent to Segamat, Johor to capture the two beasts, Perhilitan's elephant capture unit started searching for the pair of wild male elephants on 21 May, reported China Press.

And just a week later, they found them, running wild in an orchard.

Yesterday morning, Perhilitan dispatched 24 workers and a pair of trained female elephants to apprehend the rogue pair.

Both elephants were missing tusks - the older one had none while the younger elephant had only one.

The tuskless elephant posed no trouble as the team led it out of the orchard. It only took 30 minutes before it was coaxed on to a lorry.

But the one-tusked elephant, though it was smaller, was not so gullible.

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Rampaging elephants moved to Taman Negara

The Star

June 3, 2008

LABIS: Two wild elephants, caught after they went on a rampage at a farm in Kampung Tenang, have been transferred to Taman Negara.

Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) officers carried out the transfer yesterday.

The elephants, aged 10 and 15, will be released into the wild.

Lancang Pahang Elephant Operation commander Nasaruddin Othman said the elephants were caught between May 26 and May 27 after two villages in Kota Tinggi were destroyed by several elephants two months ago.

“We started searching for the elephants last Wednesday ... We're still looking for one that escaped.”

It is learnt that villagers complained that more than 8ha of farms were destroyed by the elephants resulting in RM30,000 worth of damage.

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Wild elephant captured

New Straits Times

May 29, 2008

JERANTUT: A wild elephant which had been destroying plantations in three villages near Felda Padang Piol here, has been captured.

The male elephant, believed to have been separated from its herd in the Padang Piol Forest Reserve two months ago, had been giving villagers of Kampung Lada, Kampung Paya Garut and Kampung Beletir the jitters.

It had wandered alone and damaged the villagers' fruit orchards.

Last week, about 20 Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) officers were despatched to trap the elephant.

The animal was finally caught last Thursday and yesterday, it was sent back to the forest reserve with some help from two female elephants, Cek Mek and Lokimala.

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Presumed Extinct Javan Elephants May Have Been Found Again - In Borneo

Science Daily

April 18, 2008

ScienceDaily (Apr. 18, 2008) — The Borneo pygmy elephant may not be native to Borneo after all. Instead, the population could be the last survivors of the Javan elephant race – accidentally saved from extinction by the Sultan of Sulu centuries ago, a new publication suggests.

The origins of the pygmy elephants, found in a range extending from the north-east of the island into the Heart of Borneo, have long been shrouded in mystery. Their looks and behaviour differ from other Asian elephants and scientists have questioned why they never dispersed to other parts of the island.

But a new paper published supports a long-held local belief that the elephants were brought to Borneo centuries ago by the Sultan of Sulu, now in the Philippines, and later abandoned in the jungle. The Sulu elephants, in turn, are thought to have originated in Java.

Javan elephants became extinct some time in the period after Europeans arrived in South-East Asia. Elephants on Sulu, never considered native to the island, were hunted out in the 1800s.

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'Shocking' the elephants away

Sharifah Mahsinah Abdullah, NST Online

April 16, 2008

JELI: Villagers in the district are happy that an electric fence is being built to keep wild elephants away from their smallholdings.

Construction of the fence began early this year and so far, about two kilometres of fence had been erected between Kampung Lubok Bongor and Kuala Sungai Tapah.

Jeli member of parliament Datuk Mustapa Mohamed, who is the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, announced the construction of the fence two years ago.

The fence, when completed, will be more than 10km long and is expected to cost about RM1.6 million.

It will prevent the intrusion of elephants into fruit orchards and rubber and oil palm smallholdings in the area.

Lubok Bongor villagers said no intrusions had been reported in their smallholdings since work to erect the fence started in February.

Rubber smallholder Che Senik Che Musa, 58, said villagers were glad that their problem with the elephants would end soon.

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Elephants Go On Rampage In Kampung Kelian Dalam Siong

Bernama

April 13, 2008

BALING, April 13 (Bernama) -- A group of wild elephants believed to be from the Rimba Teloi forest reserve went on a rampage in Kampung Kelian Dalam Siong near here last night causing untold damage to local residents' plants and trees.

Banana, jackfruit and oil palm trees in the Risda Mini Estate and smallholdings there suffered various degrees of damage.

A resident, Mansor Yaakob, 55, said he suffered severe losses when the jackfruit trees he planted 15 years ago, were destroyed by the elephants.

"I am afraid there will be more destruction by the elephants if no action is taken by the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan)," he told Bernama today.

Mansor said some of the residents had also bumped into the elephants at a river near their plantation.

Kelantan rangers capture stray bull elephant

Sharifah Mahsinah Abdullah, New Straits Times

December 16, 2007

KELANTAN wildlife rangers have captured a bull elephant which strayed into Kampung Kalai here on Friday.

The elephant, which have been nicknamed "Awang Kalai", is believed to have been separated from the main herd while moving to higher grounds to avoid rising flood waters.

Jeli wildlife chief Mohd Hazlin Qozek Alladdin (correct) said the elephant, aged between 10 and 15 years, was found by a villager who alerted the department.

Rarest elephants protection plans

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BBC News September 1, 2007 Scientists helping protect the smallest and rarest elephants in the world are hoping to set up a fieldwork centre on the island of Borneo. The Bornean elephant is only found in the northern part of the island and was recognised as a new subspecies in 2003. Cardiff University has also studied orang-utans in the Malaysian state of Sabah, Borneo, for several years. The rainforest where both species live has been damaged by logging and the growth of oil palm plantations. The elephants live in the Kinabatangan flood plain in Sabah and there are thought to be around 1,500- 2,000 in the wild. The team from Cardiff University's school of biosciences has been working with the authorities in Sabah on conservation projects for many years. Mike Bruford, professor of biodiversity, has just returned from Borneo where he was discussing opening the field centre along with the Sabah wildlife department. To read the full story click on the blog title

Cross Country: Elephant’s relocation a village affair

T. N. Alagesh, New Straits Times

August 27, 2007

JERANTUT: Usually quiet Kampung Baru was packed with hundreds of villagers and curious on-lookers on Friday.

The centre of attention was a male elephant that had been captured in the nearby jungle.

Twenty Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) officers were attempting to relocate him to the Kenyir Lake forest in Terengganu, and found the crowd a nuisance.

Some on-lookers even followed the officers into the jungle for a closer look at the animal, despite many warnings from the officers to keep their distance.

The officers brought along female elephants Cek Mek and Lokimala, from the Kuala Gandah elephant sanctuary, to coax the male elephant to climb into the back of the lorry without fuss.

The male had reportedly damaged villagers’ fruit orchards. A team of seven officers tracked him for five days before finding him a week ago.

For the full story click on the blog title

Habitat Loss Threatens Pygmy Elephants

VIJAY JOSHI, The Associated Press

August 8, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Satellite tracking of pygmy elephants has found that the endangered animals _ unique to Borneo island _ are under threat due to logging and commercial plantations encroaching on their habitat, conservationists said Thursday.

A World Wildlife Fund study, based on two years of satellite tracking, found that pygmy elephants thrive best in forests on flat lowlands and in river valleys _ the same terrain preferred by loggers and oil palm plantations.

About 40 percent of forest in the Malaysian state of Sabah, where most pygmy elephants live, has been lost to logging, conversion for plantations and human settlement over the last four decades, WWF said.

Very little was known about pygmy elephants until a chance DNA analysis in 2003 revealed them to be a distinct subspecies of Asian elephants, which triggered a new effort to conserve them.

In June 2005, the WWF set in motion a landmark project to track pygmy elephants in the rain forests of Sabah by placing collars fitted with transmitters around the necks of five elephants, known to be leaders of their herds.

The collars beamed their locations via satellite to a WWF-Malaysia computer as often as once a day in the first study of its kind, providing valuable information about the elephants' grazing habits and movement patterns.

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Fireworks the only hope for villagers to stave off elephant invasion

R.S.N. MURALI, The Star

July 31, 2007

HULU TERENGGANU: Villagers here are resorting to fireworks to scare away elephant herds that they claimed had been ravaging their crops over the last few weeks.

Some of the villagers in Durian Bador, Kuala Menjing, Sekayu and Padang Setar here said they had once caught sight of 13 elephants at their smallholds, mostly planted with corn and other food crops.

They said this had been going on for more than a decade, but began to get worse over the last few weeks.

"We are terrified and concerned that the elephants may turn violent if confronted," said villager Abdul Razak Samad, 60.

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Elephant hit by train breaks legs, lands in ravine

Junita Mat Rashid, New Straits Times May 25, 2007 SEGAMAT: An elephant crossing a railway line in Bekok early yesterday sustained two broken hind legs when it was hit by a train. The impact of the collision flung the animal, believed to be 10 years old and weighing about a tonne, into a 15m ravine near the tracks. Wildlife and National Parks Department officers and doctors from the Veterinary Services Department were trying to save the elephant, which was reported to be in critical condition. To read the full story click on the link in the blog title

Crop raider elephant collared in K'tangan

Daily Express March 23, 2007 Kota Kinabalu: A male elephant, estimated to be 55-60 years of age, was captured and collared in Gomantong Plantation, Lower Kinabatangan, last Sunday before it was released into Lot 6 of Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. This is the second elephant collared using the GSM collar done by the Sabah Wildlife Department and WWF-Malaysia as part of the Bornean Biodiversity and Ecosystems Conservation (BBEC) activities, which advocates sustainable approaches for the conservation of endangered biodiversity and ecosystems in Sabah. The BBEC programme runs five years (ending March 2007), and is implemented by the Sabah Government agencies and Universiti Malaysia Sabah, and assisted by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The programme applies an integrated approach to cover four essential areas, which are Research & Education, Park Management, Habitat Management and Public Awareness. The elephant was believed to be trapped in a small forest patch, Hutan Simpan Pusat Penyelidikan Jabatan Pertanian, during the October 2006 flood, trapping the elephants there the last five months. Senior Manager of Gomantong Sdn Bhd (a TSH group member), Sam Jik Gze, thanked the Sabah Wildlife Department (led by Dr Symphorosa Sipangkui) and WWF-Malaysia (led by Raymond Alfred) for coordinating the capture, satellite-fitting and translocating of the elephant from the said area. To read the full story click on the link in the blog title

Malaysia's warning to highway drivers: Don't honk at elephants

The Associated Press

March 25, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Elephants are straying onto one of Malaysia's main highways, prompting the government to warn drivers not to trigger a possible rampage by honking at the animals, a news report said Sunday.

The warning came after a motorist claimed to have been chased for about 50 meters (160 feet) earlier this month by a herd of elephants that had been blocking part of the East-West Highway. No injuries were reported in the incident.

Sazmi Miah, parliamentary secretary of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, said elephants are often spotted crossing the 125-kilometer (78-mile) highway, which cuts through forested territory in peninsular Malaysia.

To read the full story click on the link in the blog title

Even elephants need their own personal space

Borneo Bulletin
March 28, 2007

KOTA KINABALU (NST) - Elephants, too, need their personal space.

This is especially so in the wake of increasing human encroachment into their natural habitat.

Raymond Alfred, project manager for World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia's Sorel (Sabah Orang Utan, Rhinoceros and Elephant Landscape) Project said elephant corridors may be the answer to reducing 'conflicts' with elephants.

"Once they are separated from main herds because of development, the risk of conflict with humans increases, particularly at villages, plantations and along roads."

Alfred said the elephant corridors needed to be large enough to contain the animals.

To read the full story click on the link in the blog title

A rogue herd's year-long reign of terror ends

Shahrum Sayuthi, New Straits Times
January 27, 2007
KUANTAN, SAT.: She was the ringleader, steering her cohorts on destructive rampages around several villages and signalling the retreat when things got too hot. Her year-long reign of terror ended yesterday.
The female elephant, believed to be 20 to 30 years old, was caught after her latest exploit at Kampung Nadak Seberang last Thursday.
For the past year she has led the raids of about 20 elephants on oil palm holdings and orchards here and in Panching, destroying crops and trees.
State Wildlife and National Parks Protection Department director, Inche Ali Che Aman, said after complaints from the villagers a team of 10 rangers was sent to track down the rogue herd on Thursday. The next day they found the elephants in a nearby forest.

For the full story click on the blog title

Dung-Ho

New Straits Times
January 7, 2007
A young researcher whose heart is as big as the animals she’s determined to save lets JESSICA LIM tag along on her unusual quest.
AFTER months of battling shin-high, leech-filled mud, dense undergrowth, wasps and a kind of poisonous tree sap that breaks skin into raw blisters, the petite girl squatted happily by the treasure she sought.
It was a shimmering, lustrous pile of elephant dung.
"Wow. Very fresh. So nice," said elephant researcher Cynthia Boon as she broke into a smile.
Boon pinched a bit of the human head-sized bolus and sniffed it.
The team whipped out their dung-assessing gear — a GPS reader, compass, measuring tape and identification tag — and began noting how far it was decayed, the size and exact location.

To read the full story click on the blog title

Trust seeks to preserve Borneo's forests

Takahiro Tsujimoto, Daily Yomiuri
December 14, 2006
A trust established in October to preserve Malaysia's diminishing rain forests is seeking donors to help buy land to create preservation areas for elephants, orangutans and other animals in Sabah State in Borneo.
The Borneo Conservation Trust plans to buy 5,936 hectares of land along the Kinabatangan River and 270 hectares along the Segama River at a cost of about 6 billion yen.
The trust was the brainchild of Toshinori Tsubouchi, a wildlife specialist dispatched by the Japan International Cooperation Agency to Sabah, and is promoted by Saraya Co., an Osaka-based company producing soap made from palm oil made in Sabah.

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Don't honk when you see stray elephants on the road

Don't honk when you see stray elephants on the road
Fah Foong Lian, The Star
October 24, 2006

GERIK: Motorists along the East-West Highway must not honk or switch on the car headlights when they come across elephants on the road.

Perak Wildlife and National Parks Department director Shabrina Mohd Shariff said the advice was among other tips put up on a signboard to inform motorists on what to do in such a situation.

The signboards, she said, were put up following reports of elephants straying onto the highway located next to the Belum Forest Reserve, which is the elephants' habitat.

"By honking, the elephants will get agitated and may attack the motorists," she said on Monday.

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Wild elephants stampede through northern Malaysian plantation

Wild elephants stampede through northern Malaysian plantation
The Associated Press
October 14, 2006

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia Wild elephants rampaged through a Malaysian plantation district, trampling more than 1,000 banana and rubber trees, a news report said Saturday.

At least four elephants believed to be foraging for food ventured out of a jungle Friday and tore through a rural plantation in the northern state of Kedah, shocking villagers whose livelihood depends on the crops, The Star newspaper reported.

"I hope they will not make rampaging a habit," said resident Hussin Rashid, whose 300 banana trees were destroyed. The report included a photograph of villagers pointing at flattened trees.

Villagers have urged wildlife officials to patrol the area over the next few days to prevent the pachyderms from returning amid fears that they might attack humans.

Elephants are common in Malaysia's tropical forests. Their habitat has been reduced in recent years by logging and clearing of land for development activities, causing some to occasionally invade nearby plantations and farms for food.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/14/asia/AS_GEN_Malaysia_Elephant_Rampage.php

Lost elephant back in Belum

Lost elephant back in Belum
New Straits Time September 13, 2006 JELI:

A lost juvenile elephant, which has been roaming the jungles and orchards near Kampung Lata Janggut near here for the past month, is back in familiar territory.

Captured by the state Wildlife rangers on Saturday, the pachyderm was taken on a two-and-a-half-hour journey to the Belum state park in Grik, Perak, where it was released yesterday. The operation started at 8am with two trained elephants, Cik Mek and Lokimala, guiding the young one out from near a stream, behind the village where it had been kept since its capture, to a timber camp 1km away. It was sedated and given antibiotics for an injured foot before being put on a lorry to the Jeli District Wildlife office where it was fed and washed.

Cik Mek and Lokimala, trained for such a task, were brought here by a 12-member team from the National Elephant Conservation Centre in Kuala Gandah, Pahang, on Monday. Department elephant unit head Nasharuddin Othman said Cik Mek was from the centre while Lokimala was based at the Malacca Zoo. He said the rogue elephant, believed to be 18 years old, had been feasting on fruits and damaging fruit trees belonging to villagers. "The elephant was released in Belum in the evening as it was much cooler and to prevent it from getting stressed."