A wildlife officer checking the elephant carcass.
KOTA KINABALU: The female adult elephant which was found dead at an oil palm smallholding near Kampung Perpaduan Skim Bagahak Km 26, Tungku in Lahad Datu, is suspected to have died of toxaemia (acute blood poisoning).
The carcass was found by a farm worker at 6.30am on December 9. Its herd was surrounding the carcass when it was discovered.
The latest incident is similar to the case of the female satellite collared elephant “Girang” which died of toxaemia on Nov 16 this year.
Disclosing this in a statement on Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew said she was informed by Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) director Augustine Tuuga that the animal aged between 20 and 25 years was estimated to have died on Dec 7, and post-mortem findings showed that it had multiple organ congestion in the heart, lung, liver, spleen and kidney coupled with myocardial infarction (blood clot in the heart) and intestinal pneumatosis (lesions).
Based on the post-mortem, she said the cause of the elephant’s death is possible ingestion of toxic substance (food poisoning), and sample tissues have been taken and sent to the Chemistry Department for analysis. “There was no external wound and neither was there any bullet found on its body, although there was bleeding from the ears, nostril and mouth.”
Liew said a team of rangers from the Lahad Datu District Wildlife Office was immediately dispatched to the location for examination and investigation, upon being alerted.
The post-mortem was conducted by veterinarian Dr Bong Ai Yin from the Wildlife Rescue Unit (WRU), assisted by two WRU rangers, and completed on the same day.
“It is regrettable that we have lost another precious Bornean Pygmy elephant. I have already said what I want to say. I have appealed to all plantation owners and workers not to kill our wildlife but it is still continuing.
“Generally, Malaysians are a caring lot but there are some in our midst who have failed to realise that these Bornean Pygmy elephants are our State’s wildlife heritage, to say the least,” she lamented.
Liew said she cannot wait for the implementation of the 10-Year Sabah Elephant Management Action Plan (2020-2030) as it will lay out clauses that will hold plantation workers, owners and or stakeholders accountable for any kind of injury or death of elephants on or around their properties.
This Elephant Management Action Plan, she added, aims to transform human-elephant conflict to human-elephant co-existence.
“In the meantime, we are banking on the General Operations Force (GOF) in Sabah, particularly the Tiger Platoons, to assist the Sabah Wildlife Department in combating wildlife poaching and poisoning,” she said. According to the minister, a police report was also lodged on the same day, and an investigation officer has been appointed to conduct an entire investigation into the case.
Meanwhile, Lahad Datu Wildlife Department officer Sylvester Saimin said the farm worker was on the way to work when he heard noises of elephants and later discovered the carcass.
He also found elephant footprints at the area believed to be left behind by a group of elephants in the area.