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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Snare trap kills second elephant in a week in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: Snare traps set in plantations in Lahad Datu took the life of another elephant – making it two deaths in less than a week in the Sabah east coast district.

Sabah Wildlife Department spokesperson Siti Nur Ain Ampuan Acheh said the district wildlife office was alerted by an oil palm plantation worker about 5pm yesterday about the dead male elephant.

“It was found in the Low Woo Thien oil palm plantation area in Ulu Segama, Lahad Datu.

“A team of rangers was immediately dispatched to the location to collect information on the elephant,” she said.

The team found a deep injury on one of the elephant’s feet, believed to have been inflicted by a snare trap, she said.

The elephant was nearly 2m tall and aged between four and five years.

Nur Ain said the cause of death was septicaemia resulting from the severe leg injury. The wound had caused the bone to become exposed.

Last Thursday, an injured elephant, rescued earlier from Sapagaya, Lahad Datu, on June 1, was found dead at the Bornean Elephant Sanctuary.

Sapa, an adult male, was rescued by wildlife officers after it was found with injuries, also believed to be from a snare trap.

Sapa had appeared to be on the way to recovery, with its injury almost healed, after being treated by the wildlife rescue unit’s veterinary officer.

However, the elephant was found lifeless on July 11 despite showing no symptoms of illness the previous day.


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Jumbo deaths raise welfare alarm

KOTA KINABALU: Drastic steps are expected to be taken at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park where two endangered Borneo pygmy elephants died within two months.

Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Christina Liew will be at the wildlife park today on a fact-finding visit in which she is expected to make some tough decisions on the management and upkeep of the park, sources said.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga confirmed a report in The Star Online that two elephants died there on May 7 and June 27.

An adolescent male elephant rescued 13 years ago from Lahad Datu’s Yapid plantation died on June 27 while a four-year-old calf died on May 7.

Wildlife officials had kept a lid on the deaths amid calls by activists for improvements at the wildlife park that acts as a rescue and rehabilitation centre for the animals.

Sources said that wildlife veterinarians were puzzled over the deaths of the two elephants.

So far, post-mortem reports have not given any clue about the cause of the deaths.

It is understood that the calf, which was born in captivity, had been sick.

The deaths in captivity, sources said, was worrying.

Earlier this month, Friends of Orang Utan director Upreshpal Singh raised concerns about the upkeep of animals at the Lok Kawi Zoo but the Sabah Wildlife Department dismissed allegations that the animals were kept under poor conditions.

Tuuga said this was the second time that such an accusation had surfaced, adding that the animals were “well looked after”.

Liew made a surprise visit two weeks ago following the complaints.

However, she said then that all was good at the park.

At least seven elephants in the wild have also died of unknown causes in April and May in various parts of Sabah’s east coast.

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Injured elephant captured in Sabah oil palm plantation dies

Sabah Wildlife Director Augustine Tuuga said the elephant, estimated to be six or seven years of age, had shown signs of injury when it was captured by the Wildlife Department’s Rescue Unit.

He said the elephant was reported to have been aggressive towards plantation workers and villagers in surrounding areas, which led to its capture on Nov 24 at Desa Plantation, and was then taken to Borneo Elephant Sanctuary.

“While undergoing medical examination and treatment, its tongue was found to have serious wound, believed to have been caused by a gunshot.

“The wound on the tongue made the elephant unable to eat or drink,” he said in a statement here tonight.

Tuuga said a post mortem conducted on the elephant found a bullet lodged in the injured front left leg and there were also gunshot marks on the body, but did not penetrate or caused any internal organ injury.

“Dehydration is believed to be the cause of death because the elephant was unable to drink due to the injury on its tongue,” he said.

Tuuga said the Sabah Wildlife Department would be investigating the case as it involved the death of a totally protected species.

“While the Sabah Wildlife Department fully understand the problem faced by the people associated with elephant in their environment, we would really appreciate cooperation from all concerned by contacting the department’s nearest office for assistance to mitigate disturbance and property loss,” he said. — Bernama

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Brigitte Bardot urges Malaysian government to rescue elephant in captivity in Langkawi

KUALA LUMPUR: Screen legend Brigitte Bardot has urged the government to let a wild-born Malaysian elephant kept in captivity in Langkawi to retire in the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary.

The former singer and actress expressed her concerns about the elephant, named Lasah, in a letter to Natural Resources and Environmental Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, dated Oct 11.

Bardot, a renown animal activist, said she was aware that Lasah lived alone and chained for several hours a day. She added that the elephant was used and abused for tourism purposes on the island.

She said, according a Malaysian NGO, media reports and several petitions, Lasah had been used in tourism and entertainment for more than 25 years, worked in a logging camp and spent many years in zoos in and outside the country.

"As you and your Ministry are aware, the only way elephants accept being ridden by tourists is by being crushed and frequently abused.

"Thanks to the advent of the internet and different social medias, this fact is now a common knowledge.

"It is also widely known that elephants must not be kept alone in captivity, males included. Depriving Lasah of the companionship of other elephants is cruel and has severe psychological impact on him, not to mention the repetitive elephant rides and the chains," she said in the letter.

Bardot added that the abuses and exploitation of Lasah has prevented him from expressing his natural behaviors, such as foraging and interacting with other elephants thus why retiring him to the sanctuary would offer him the opportunity to do so.

"To this day, the Malaysian government has spent tens of millions of Ringgit on pandas coming from China, and I can only hope that such a financial effort translates a certain concern about wildlife.

"Therefore I believe that the Malaysian government will have no problem with welcoming and caring for Lasah, who is a Malaysian-born elephant, at the sanctuary.

"It is a moral and ethical obligation to give Lasah the freedom he needs and deserves after so many years of suffering.

"I respectfully ask the Malaysian government to retire Lasah to the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary where he can live as a free elephant without fear of abuse and exploitation.

"This is what Lasah deserves and the gesture of compassion everyone expects from the Malaysian government," she said.

In July last year, Langkawi Elephant Adventure had dismissed allegations that it had abused Lasah.

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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."