Juvenile elephant shot dead in Tongod

TONGOD: An elephant was found dead with a gunshot wound at Kampung Karamuak here.

This brings the number of elephants killed in Sabah to 10 this year.

A team of wildlife rangers from Kinabatangan Wildlife Office stumbled upon the carcass of the juvenile male elephant by the roadside at Kampung Karamuak here about 7.40am on July 23.

Sabah Wildlife Department public relations officer Siti Nur’Ain Ampuan Acheh said the wildlife rangers were returning home from carrying out elephant controls at Kampung Karamuak.

“The juvenile male elephant is about three to four years old,” she said in a statement yesterday.

She added that a team was sent yesterday to investigate and conduct a post-mortem to determine the cause of death.

The post-mortem team found a wound at the right rump of the elephant, she said, adding a pellet was inside the abdomen.

“Some parts of the intestines were torn. There was a severe internal bleeding inside the abdomen suggesting several blood vessels were damaged.

“The cause of death is determined to be hypovolemic shock due to severe internal bleeding caused by the pellet,” Siti Nur’Ain explained.

“From the position of the injury and the trajectory of the pellet, it is highly probable that the elephant was shot either from a close range from an elevated place or from the back of a vehicle.”

Siti Nur’Ain said according to information gathered during investigation, a herd of elephants had been in Kampungg Karamuak for the last one month.

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Sabah records third elephant death in eight days

SANDAKAN, July 24 — A third elephant has been found killed in Sabah within a span of eight days, and this time, the pachyderm was found shot dead at Kampung Karamuak, Tongod in Kinabatangan.

Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) Public Relations Officer Siti Nur’Ain Ampuan Acheh said a team of wildlife rangers from the Kinabatangan wildlife office stumbled upon the carcass at the road side at 7.40am yesterday while they were returning from elephant control work at Kampung Karamuak,

She said the male juvenile elephant was estimated to be between three to four years old and that a team was dispatched to the scene to investigate , including to carry out a post mortem to determine the cause of death.

A wound at the right rump of the elephant was found and this was then traced to the discovery of a pellet inside the abdomen, said Siti Nur’Ain in a statement today.

She said some parts of the intestines were torn and that there was severe internal bleeding inside the abdomen, suggesting several blood vessels were damaged.

She said the cause of death was determined to be hypovolemic shock due to severe internal bleeding caused by the pellet.

“From the position of the injury and the trajectory of the pellet, it is highly probable that the elephant was shot from close range from an elevated place or from the back of a vehicle,” she added.

Siti Nur’Ain said according to information gathered, a herd of elephants had been seen in Kampung Karamuak for the past one month.

She said the department would continue to probe the case and find those involved in the killing.

On July 19, a male elephant was found dead near an abandoned logging camp in Kuamut Forest Reserve in Kinabatangan, believed to be due to a fight with a larger elephant, leading to a severe crack on the left skull.

Prior to that, a male elephant with a badly wounded foot was found dead on July 16 in an oil palm plantation at Ulu Segama in Lahad Datu, believed to be the victim of a snare trap.

Elephants in Sabah are a Totally Protected species under the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997. — Bernama

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Elephant that died wasn’t expected to live past 5 years, says park

KOTA KINABALU: The 15-year-old male juvenile elephant that died in captivity at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park three days ago was not expected to live past five years when it was first rescued in 2003.

According to the park’s resident doctor Dr Symphorosa Sipangkui, the elephant which they named Yapid was only three months old when he was first rescued in Sandakan.

“He was handicapped, having difficulty in swallowing food. We did not expect him to live beyond five years. But he did, thanks to the care of the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and the veterinarians at the park,” she said when met at the park here today.

Symphorosa said Yapid was initially given medication including steroids to help him cope with his disability. However, this was stopped as the vets were worried that the medication could have negative effects on his kidneys.

Nevertheless, she said, Yapid lived far beyond the estimation of the park’s vets.

Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Christina Liew said when she heard about Yapid’s story, she realised that not many knew about the goings-on and success stories of the park.

On the contrary, she said, only bad news would emerge and would go viral on social media without users verifying the accuracy of the reports.

“As a result, every time we heard of bad PR coming out of the park, we had to rush here for fact-finding missions. For this reason, I have decided that the park will appoint a public relations officer to engage the public on the status of the park.


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