Govt serious in tackling elephant deaths

KOTA KINABALU: The State Government is serious about tackling the issue of intermittent elephant deaths to protect the elephant population and prevent their extinction.

This is in view of the fact that a total of 116 elephant deaths were recorded between October 2010 and September this year.

Of the figure, 30 elephants have died this year alone. The latest, a female aged between 12 and 15 years, died at the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve (Tawau) on October 18.

According to Dr Roza, a veterinarian with the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) who conducted the post-mortem, the elephant died due to a fight with other elephants.

In this regard, a joint meeting was convened between the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment, and Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry last week.

Ministers Datuk Christina Liew and Datuk Junz Wong concurred that given the loss of habitat, the 2,000-odd elephants need a “home” so that they will not encroach into oil palm plantations and risk getting snared or shot to death.

Currently, they are concentrated in three areas – Lower Kinabatangan Managed Elephant Range (MER), Tabin MER and Central Sabah MER in the Danum area. The forests in these elephant habitat are a mix of primary and secondary forests. Elephants eat grasses, roots, fruit and bark. They use their tusks to pull the bark from trees and dig roots out of the ground. An adult elephant can eat 300 pounds (136kg) of food in a day, and drink up to 150-200 litres of water per day.

“Bornean pygmy elephants are a ‘prestige’ breed as they are peculiar to Borneo. We are intensifying our efforts to protect the elephants and prevent their extinction. We have discussed the pressing need to
grow sufficient food for the elephants in their habitat. For a start, we will consider planting vegetation (grasses and shrubs) in the three areas individually before connecting the areas at a later stage of development.

“The aim is to create a sustainable food chain within the three Managed Elephant Ranges, a new corridor of life for the elephants. Such move will avert crop damage in the oil palm plantations and smallholdings.

“In the meantime, we need the cooperation of plantation owners and workers in not causing any harm to the animals but to inform the
relevant authorities (Sabah Wildlife Department) in the event of any
encroachment,” the ministers said in a joint ministerial statement.

Expressing the government’s determination to resolve the human-elephant conflict, Liew, who is also a Deputy Chief Minister,
and Wong stressed that political will is indispensable in this respect.

“A special task force will be set up, comprising officials from the ministries and relevant agencies,” they said.

The SWD has been entrusted with the task of preparing a paper on the proposed Resolution of the Human-Elephant Conflict in Sabah for submission to the State Cabinet. Assistant Director (Bornean Elephants Conservation Unit) Dr Sen Nathan has been asked to prepare the paper.

The Deputy Chief Minister said the joint meeting was in response to the call by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal to the two ministries to collectively address the outstanding problem. It was also attended by Permanent Secretaries Datuk Datu Rosmadi Datu Sulai (Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment) and Dr Mariana Tinggal (Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry), Director of Agriculture, Datuk Idrus Shapie, and Director of Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), Augustine Tuuga, among other senior officials.

It was unanimously agreed that the Sabah Forestry Department be enlisted in the Elephant Protection Cause. Its director will be
invited to attend the next meeting.

Breakdown of the total number of elephant deaths is as follows: 2010
(2), 2011 (6), 2012 (5), 2013 (23), 2014 (6), 2015 (15), 2016 (20),
2017 (9) and 2018 (30).

Number of elephant deaths by district is as follows: Died in captivity (2), Keningau (1), Tawau/Kalabakan (35), Lahad Datu (30),
Kinabatangan (31) and Sandakan/Telupid (17).

Answering Liew’s persistent question on the cause of death of the two elephants in captivity at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park (LWP), Dr Sen said Yapid, a young male adult aged 12 years, seemed to have a problem of congenital disease, resulting in low absorption from the total nutriments consumed on its diet.

“Honestly speaking, Yapid was an elephant that would have needed special dietary and husbandry care.

Which means its care and dietary management should have been given higher priority and care. It is very evident that the general husbandry and veterinary care in LWP has deteriorated to a point where Yapid was not getting this special care. As a result, Yapid would have suffered from chronic malnutrition/starvation and thus eventually death,” he explained.

As for the baby elephant, a two-year-old male, Dr Sen said it died of chronic emaciation (unnatural thinness from loss of flesh due to lack of food).

“Rest assured, changes have been made at the LWP,” he added.

The meeting also discussed the possibility of getting agencies under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry to “adopt” one or two elephants in the interest of their well-being.

Liew suggested that the previous plan of “loaning” an elephant to the Rasa Ria Reserve in Tuaran, be re-visited if possible.

At this juncture, Rosmadi conceded that with the presence of 15 elephants, there is congestion at the LWP.

“Ideally, by international convention, the zoo should have only four to five elephants. So the rest should be in the wild but then there is not enough food,” he said while emphasising the need to relocate 10 elephants to other areas.

Meanwhile, the minister questioned Tuuga over the five-month delay in the completion of renovation works at the LWP. It was supposed to have been completed by the end of September.

Rosmadi said the works will be completed by the end of October.

Before the meeting came to a close, a concerned Idrus brought the
issue of smuggling of plants to the minister’s attention.

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Sabah mulls new 'life corridor' for elephants

Kota Kinabalu: The State Government is contemplating creating a new "corridor of life" linking three known pygmy elephant habitats which will have ample food and thus ensure their survival through minimising conflict with humans.

They are the Lower Kinabatangan Managed Elephant Range (MER), Tabin MER and Central Sabah MER in the Danum area.

The forests in these elephant habitat are a mix of primary and secondary forests. Elephants eat grasses, roots, fruit and bark.

They use their tusks to pull the bark from trees and dig roots out of the ground. An adult elephant can eat 300 pounds (136kg) of food in a day,and drink up to 150-200 litres of water per day.

"For a start, we will consider planting vegetation (grasses and shrubs) in the three areas individually before connecting the areas at a later stage of development.

"The aim is to create a sustainable food chain within the three Managed Elephant Ranges. Such move will avert crop damage in the oil-palm plantations andsmallholdings," a joint meeting involving the two State Ministries concluded.

The Ministries involved are the Ministry of Tourism, Culture Ministers (Datuk Christina Liew) and and Environment and Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (Datuk Junz Wong).

This is in view of 116 elephant deaths recorded between October 2010 and September this year. Of this, 30 elephants died this year alone, the latest, a female aged between 12 and 15 years, died at the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve (Tawau) on October 18.

According to Dr Roza, a veterinarian with the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) who conducted the post-mortem, the elephant died due to a fight with other elephants.

It was decided that given the loss of habitat, the 2,000-odd elephants need a "home" so that they will not encroach into oil-palm plantations and risk getting snared or shot to death.

"Bornean pygmy elephants are a 'prestige' breed as they are peculiar to Borneo. We are intensifying our efforts to protect the elephants and prevent their extinction.

"In the meantime, we need the cooperation of plantation owners and workers in not causing any harm to the animals but to inform the relevant authorities (Sabah Wildlife Department) in the event of any encroachment," the Ministers said in a joint statement.

Expressing the Government's determination to resolve the human-elephant conflict, Liew, who is also a Deputy Chief Minister, and Wong stressed that political will is indispensable in this respect.

"A special task force will be set up, comprising officials from the ministries and relevant agencies," they said. The SWD has been entrusted with the task of preparing a paper on the proposed Resolution of the Human-Elephant Conflict in Sabah for submission to the State Cabinet. Assistant Director (Bornean Elephants Conservation Unit) Dr Sen Nathan has been asked to prepare the paper.

The DCM said the joint meeting was in response to the call by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal to the two ministries to collectively address the outstanding problem.

It was unanimously agreed that the Sabah Forestry Department be enlisted in the Elephant Protection Cause. Its Director will be invited to attend the next meeting.

Breakdown of the total number of elephant deaths is as follows : 2010 (2), 2011 (6), 2012 (5), 2013 (23), 2014 (6), 2015 (15), 2016 (20), 2017 (9) and 2018 (30).

Number of elephant deaths by district is as follows : Died in captivity (2), Keningau (1), Tawau/Kalabakan (35), Lahad Datu (30), Kinabatangan (31) and Sandakan/Telupid (17).

The meeting also discussed the possibility of getting agencies under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry to "adopt" one or two elephants in the interest of their well-being. Liew suggested that the previous plan of "loaning" an elephant to the Rasa Ria Reserve in Tuaran, be re-visited if possible.

Rosmadi conceded that with the presence of 15 elephants, there is congestion at the LWP. "Ideally, by international convention, the zoo should have only four to five elephants. So the rest should be in the wild but then there is not enough food," he said while emphasising the need to relocate 10 elephants to other areas.

Meanwhile, the Minister questioned Tuuga over the five-month delay in the completion of renovation works at the LWP. It was supposed to have been completed by the end of September. Rosmadi said the works will be completed by the end of October.

The issue of smuggling of plants was also brought to the Minister's attention.

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Malaysia: Sabah state govt mulls planting food for wild elephants

KOTA KINABALU: The state government is thinking of planting food for elephants in certain protected areas to prevent them from encroaching into plantations.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew said the move could help to reduce human-elephant conflict and prevent the extinction of the species in Sabah.

“Given the loss of habitat, the remaining 2,000-odd elephants need a home so that they don’t encroach into oil palm plantations and risk getting snared, maimed or killed,” she said in a statement.

Liew, who is also Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, said the pygmy elephants are currently concentrated in three areas – Lower Kinabatangan Managed Elephant Range (MER), Tabin MER and Central Sabah MER in the Danum area.

“The aim is to create a sustainable food chain within the three MERs, a new corridor of life for the elephants and avert crop damage in the oil palm plantations and smallholdings,” she said.

An adult elephant can eat 136kg of food comprising grass, roots, fruits and bark a day, and drink up to 150 to 200 litres of water daily.

“Bornean pygmy elephants are a prestige breed and are endemic.

“We are intensifying our efforts to protect the elephants,” Liew said.

She also urged plantation owners and workers not to harm the elephants but to inform the relevant authorities such as Sabah Wildlife Department in the event of any encroachment.

Records showed that a total of 116 elephant deaths were recorded between October 2010 and Sep­tember this year.

Of the figure, 30 elephants have died this year alone with the latest involving a female, aged between 12 and 15 years, at the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve, Tawau, on Oct 18 in a herd fight.

Separately, Sabah Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Datuk Junz Wong said political will was needed to solve the problem.

“A special taskforce comprising officials from the ministries and relevant agencies will be set up to look into the plans,” he said.

The Sabah Wildlife Department has been tasked with preparing a paper on the proposed Resolution of the Human-Elephant Conflict in Sabah for submission to the state Cabinet.

Assistant director (Bornean Elephants Conservation Unit) Dr Sen Nathan has been asked to prepare the paper while Sabah Forestry Department has been enlisted in the elephant protection cause.

Sabah mulls growing elephant food in three areas to prevent encroachment
stephanie lee The Star 22 Oct 18;

KOTA KINABALU: The state government is mulling the idea of planting elephant food in certain protected areas to prevent them from encroaching into plantations and risk getting killed.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew, who is also state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, said the move could possible reduce human-elephant conflict and hopefully, prevent extinction of the species in Sabah.

“Given the loss of habitat, the 2,000-odd elephants remaining in Sabah need a 'home' so that they will not encroach into oil-palm plantations and risk getting snared or shot to death,” she said in a statement on Monday (Oct 22).

Liew said the pygmy elephants are currently concentrated in three areas - Lower Kinabatangan Managed Elephant Range (MER), Tabin MER and Central Sabah MER in the Danum area.

“There is a pressing need to grow sufficient food for the elephants in their habitat and for a start, we will consider planting vegetation (grasses and shrubs) in the three areas,” she said.

According to Liew, the three areas would be connected at a later stage of development.

"The aim is to create a sustainable food chain within the three Managed Elephant Ranges, a new corridor of life for the elephants and avert crop damage in the oil-palm plantations and smallholdings,” she said.

An adult elephant can eat 300 pounds (136kg) of food comprising grass, roots, fruits and barks a day, and drink up to 150-200 litres of water daily.

"Bornean pygmy elephants are a 'prestige' breed and are endemic to Borneo. We are intensifying our efforts to protect the elephants and prevent their extinction,” Liew said.

She also called for cooperation of plantation owners and workers in not causing any harm to the animals but to inform the relevant authorities (Sabah Wildlife Department) in the event of any encroachment.

A total of 116 elephant deaths were recorded between October 2010 and September this year.

Of the figure, 30 elephants died this year alone with the latest involving a female aged between 12 and 15 at the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve in Tawau on Oct 18 following a fight with an elephant herd.

The breakdown of the total number of elephant deaths is as follows : 2010 (2), 2011 (6), 2012 (5), 2013 (23), 2014 (6), 2015 (15), 2016 (20), 2017 (9) and 2018 (30).

The number of elephant deaths by district is as follows: Died in
captivity at the Lok kawi wildlife park in Penampang (2), Keningau (1), Tawau/Kalabakan (35), Lahad Datu (30), Kinabatangan (31) and Sandakan/Telupid (17).

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Baby elephant rescued from Tawau palm oil plantation

KOTA KINABALU, July 11 — Wildlife authorities have rescued an elephant calf, among the youngest they have come across, in a human-elephant conflict area in Tawau.

The young male jumbo, estimated to be less than a year old, was wandering alone at about 3pm yesterday when it was found by plantation workers in the Brumas oil palm area, who alerted their managers and called the authorities to rescue the animal.

Witnesses said that the animal was weak and seemed tired, but it was not aggressive when a team from the Sabah Wildlife Department came to take it away.

The elephant calf is currently under the care of wildlife rangers at the department’s Tawau base.

“The elephant found is very small and young, probably a few months and definitely less than a year. It will need a lot of attention and care if it is to survive,” said the source.

It has yet to be decided where the elephant calf will be kept, as it cannot be returned to the wild with an unfamiliar herd.

An elephant calf found alone is usually not a good sign for the species, indicating that its herd is either dead or faced some conflict that caused the calf to end up alone.

The Brumas area where the calf was found has experienced elephant encounters before, including an attack by a rogue bull elephant two years ago.

Oil palm plantations in the area also regularly report the presence of elephants despite a wildlife corridor that sometimes pose a danger to the crops and occasionally, the residents.

The east coast and interior of Sabah has seen an increase of human-wildlife conflict due to the rapid pace of development and land clearing.

In between 2013 and 2016, 15 orphaned baby elephants were found on their own in Tawau, Lahad Datu, Telupid, Kinabatangan and Sandakan — areas known as a hotbed of human-elephant conflicts. 

The Sabah Wildlife Department is currently under scrutiny following reports of an ill-managed Lok Kawi Wildlife Park where rehabilitated animals are kept, including 16 elephants.

The recent death of two of its captive elephants — a 15-year-old and a three-year-old calf — raised concerns about the department’s capability of looking after Sabah’s endangered animals.

Tourism, Culture and Environment minister Christina Liew said there was no conclusive cause of death except that the animals were sick and “not expected to live long”.

Sabah’s endemic elephant population has been dwindling. There are an estimated 1,500 Borneo Pygmy elephants left in the wild.

This year alone, 16 deaths were reported to authorities, with six of those in the last two months.

Liew said that post-mortem reports showed that they had died of an unknown disease, with no discernible external wounds.

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Sabah to review logging concessions after elephant deaths

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Government will review logging concessions in “critical” areas where dead pygmy elephants have been discovered recently.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said the state government will review the current concessions, including those under Forest Management Units, as they might be related to the deaths.

“We have to assess concessions in water catchment areas where there is wildlife. If the concessions are in accordance with the law, then they will be continued,” he said, adding that concessionaires practising “unhealthy" habits will be penalised.

Shafie said he will be meeting Forestry Department officials next week to discuss the matter further.


He said other problems highlighted to him included illegal logging in gazetted forest reserves.

“Although timber is a form of revenue for the state government, it is important for us to examine the problem in depth.

“We do not want this source of revenue to cause environmental problems in Sabah,” said Shafie after the state Cabinet meeting.

The carcasses of six endangered Bornean pygmy elephants in the east coast of Sabah aged between one and 37 years were discovered separately from April 6 to May 20.

The deaths have raised concerns over the well-being of the elephants, which number around 2,000 in the wild.

On the temporary ban of logs exported outside the state, Mohd Shafie said the logs could only be sold for the domestic market to meet demand such as from furniture factories.

“The development of the local logging industry will also provide more job opportunities to Sabahans.

“I am confident that with this move, we will be able to develop the industry,” he said, adding the ban would not affect the state’s income.

At a separate function, Shafie said a unit to monitor key performance index (KPI) in each ministry in the state would be set up.

Shafie said an annual report would be made on the KPI evaluation of every ministry.


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Another Pygmy Elephant dies from Gunshot Wounds in Sabah

Bornean pygmy elephants are facing existential threats in Sabah and so the death of any more wild elephants in the state is bad news. Yet just over the past few months several wild elephants have been shot dead by poachers or irate plantation workers.

Now another wild elephant is dead. The bull elephant, which was around six years old, had been shot and ended up succumbing to his injuries before staff at the Borneo Wildlife Sanctuary in Kinabatangan, where he was taken for treatment, could save him.

“During the examination, a bullet slug was found lodged in its injured front left leg,” explained Augustine Tuuga, director of the Sabah Wildlife Department. “There were also sign of gunshots on the body but they did not penetrate or cause any internal organ injury.”

The pachyderm also suffered an injury to his tongue, likely from a gunshot. “While undergoing medical examination and treatment, its tongue was found to have serious wound, believed to have been caused by a gunshot,” the director said. “The wound on the tongue made the elephant unable to eat or drink.”

The department’s rescue unit captured the elephant on November 24 at a plantation in Ladang Pertama after he had been reported to be acting aggressively towards locals in the area. He was showing signs of an injury on his left front leg. After tracking the wild elephant for some time, officials managed to capture him and took him to the wildlife sanctuary for treatment. But by then it was too late for the animal.

It remains unknown who shot the elephant, but the likelihood is that it was an irate plantation worker. “We will investigate the case further as it involves the death of a totally protected species,” Tuuga said. The elephant’s death is especially egregious as it comes shortly after another bull elephant was found dead with three gunshot wounds at a large plantation in Tawau, where another male elephant was also killed last month, bringing the tally of dead elephants, all shot dead, to three within the space of just a few weeks.

And so it goes: plantations have robbed wild elephants in the area of their natural habitats, severely reducing their roaming grounds. As a result, many of them can’t help but wander onto plantations, where they then encounter locals who look askance at the pachyderms feeding on crops. Some of these locals take matters into their own hands and shot the animals.

“When elephants come into conflict with people it is a battle in which the gentle animals are destined to lose,” observes SM Mohd Idris, president of the conservationist group Sahabat Alam Malaysia. “Those responsible for land clearance are highly aware of the increased risks of elephants coming into conflict with people and the subsequent fatalities that may arise,” he adds. “Many plantation owners and farmers now see elephants as enemies, yet it is humans, not the pachyderms, who are responsible for this situation.”

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Yet another endangered Borneo pygmy jumbo found dead in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: Another critically endangered Borneo pygmy elephant has been found dead even as conservationists call for informants and professional investigators to be engaged to stop the killing.

The elephant, the ninth slain in the last 14 months, was a healthy 12-year-old bull named Liningkung, that was fitted with a satellite collar 18 months ago.

It was found in the Ulu Segama Forest Reserve on Sabah’s east coast on Tuesday.

Rangers discovered its decomposed carcass with the tusks untouched.


Liningkung’s movements were being monitored by DGFC on a weekly basis, Goossens said, and they alerted Sabah Forestry officials on Dec 11 to say that it had not moved since Dec 3.

A team is in the area to carry out a post-mortem.

“It is another sad day for elephant conservation. If this goes on, we might be staring at its extinction,” Goossens said.

There are only about 1,500 elephants left in Sabah’s forests.

This is the third elephant found dead in the same area in the past year.

Goossens said it is vital for a special wildlife enforcement unit to be set up to go after wildlife poachers and traders as suggested by chief conservator of forests Datuk Sam Mannan.

Meanwhile, Marc Acrenaz, scientific director for Sabah-based wildlife research and conservation NGO Hutan, said informers and professional investigators are needed to stop the killing.

“Many years ago, locals killed these animals for food and it was not too serious.

“Now, we see that things have changed and people are poaching for the international trade or killing them because of animal-human conflicts,” he said.

No suspects have been identified in many of these cases, including a recent incident where a bull elephant was shot in the mouth and died of dehydration because it could not eat or drink.

“The authorities lack people on the ground,” Acrenaz said.

“We need a strong team which can identify the culprits and bring them to justice,” he said, adding that the killings might stop then.

For now, Acrenaz said, there are not enough rangers to cover all the places where animals – especially endangered species like the pygmy elephants, orang utan and pangolins – roam.

He said the three main reasons for poaching and killing were conflicts between landowners and animals (especially elephants), poaching of bush meat because of demand by tourists, and the international underground trade in exotic meat and animal parts like ivory and pangolin scales.


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Killing of wildlife goes on in Sabah

The slaughter of Sabah’s wildlife continued this month with little signs of slowing down as two critically-endangered Bornean pygmy elephants were killed for tusks and at least nine endangered green turtles were found butchered on the east coast.

The killings sent fresh shockwaves through the conservationist community, which appealed to the public to help put a stop to this.

A dead bull elephant was found floating down the Kinabatangan river close to the Danau Girang Research Centre (DGRC) on Monday, while another was found dead at a plantation in the Dumpas area of Kalabakan on Sept 10.

“This cannot go unpunished. We need to bring these criminals to court,” conservationist Dr Benoit Goossens said.


Dr Goossens, the director of the Kinabatangan-based DGRC, said that with fewer than 2,000 elephants in Sabah, the population would be in jeopardy if the killing of mature bulls goes on.

“Elephants are already threatened by habitat loss and conflict with humans. If you add poaching, the species will not survive. We must get rid of the poachers and traders,” he said.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said the tusks may be bound for Indonesia, where they are used as dowry in some communities.

On the turtles found on Pulau Bum Bum in Semporna district, he said reports indicated that all nine were stripped of their flesh and the lower shell, called the plastron.

He said the turtle killings may have been committed by members of the same group detained by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) early this year.

Augustine said the MMEA detained a boat from southern Philippines, with four men on board, bound for Semporna loaded with turtle flesh and plastron. The department prosecuted the four men and they were jailed two years and fined RM100,000 each.

Augustine said the wildlife authorities needed the help of villagers and other agencies in protecting endangered animals.

“The killings have to stop but we cannot do it alone,” he said.

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