KOTA KINABALU: A former Sabah Wildlife Department’s veterinarian Dr Edwin Bosi yesterday cautioned that before any action is taken against the elephant which fatally gored Australian Jenna Grady Donley, the authorities must first clearly identify the animal to ensure that they have the right one.
This can be done through the photographs and images (if any) taken prior to the attack, he said.
According to Bosi: “Elephants have distinctive markings so scrutinising the photographs will help. Alternatively experts can carry out a test on the animal’s faeces for DNA,” he said.
Once the animal is identified, then action can be taken, he said when asked of his opinion on what the authorities should do with the elephant to ensure that such a tragedy is not repeated.
Bosi who does not advocate animal killing said that if it was up to him, putting down the elephant would not be an option.
“Relocating it is an option but we must bear in mind that lone bull elephants do not have set routes like the herds. They tend to roam and wander around,” he said adding that the range of an elephant’s home is about 3,000 sq km.
“My advice is, for the residents in the vicinity of the attack to be more careful when moving about because once an elephant has done something like that, it has the tendency to do it again.
“I don’t believe in killing animals so my advice is to just avoid the animal. The people who are working there must be informed of the presence of such a dangerous animal and they must be warned to exercise extra care,” he stressed.
Bosi added that during his tenure as the Wildlife Department’s veterinarian, he had led expeditions into the deep jungles of the State to carry out surveys to study the elusive Sumatran rhinos.
“During my time doing the surveys and looking for the rhinos, my fear was always of the elephant because the lone bull is a dangerous animal. It has a psychological problem as it has been ostracised by its herd.
“Lone bulls, once provoked, will turn dangerous,” he warned and said that there are ways to know if an elephant has passed through a trail in the jungle by observing the footprints, the freshness of its dungs and also the disturbed vegetations such as broken branches or damaged trees.
Those with experience in the jungle can feel the presence of an elephant and even smell the animal, he said.