Another elephant found shot dead in Sabah with tusks removed

By TIN Media | Sabah Published 4 years ago on 1 November 2019
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SABAH:

 

Sabah’s Borneo pygmy elephants, considered as endangered species, with only 1,500 to 2,000 believed to be still in the wild are constantly poached for their tusks. In a recent case, another adult bull pygmy elephant has been found shot dead with its tusks missing, this time at a plantation in Beluran district. The elephant was found with several gunshot injuries. On Sept 25, a similar elephant was also found dead with over 70 bullet wounds on the east coast Tawau district.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said investigators were hopeful of making a breakthrough in the probe into the death of the elephant in Tawau last week that shocked conservationists in the country.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said plantation workers found the pygmy elephant carcass yesterday morning "Our team of vets and rangers went to conduct a post-mortem and investigations in the evening,". He added, "From what we know, the elephant was shot dead and had its two tusks removed,".

Tuuga said investigators are working closely with security forces to find the culprits. It is learned the elephant has been dead for at least three days.

On investigations into the five elephant killer suspects nabbed in connection with the Tawau incident, he said they would be prosecuted soon."We are now almost done and are just getting the investigation papers sorted out," he added.

Meanwhile, Britain-based NGO Orangutan Appeal founder Sue Sherward pledged RM10,000 to the reward pool money, increasing the amount to RM30,000, for information leading to the capture or prosecution of the poachers. The elephants remain under threat, not only from poachers but also from human-elephant conflict with opening up of land for agriculture purposes on the east coast of Sabah.
 


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