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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