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Endangered pygmy elephant shot dead on Borneo
KUALA LUMPUR, July 26, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A pygmy elephant was shot dead on
Borneo island after it destroyed villagers’ crops, a Malaysian wildlife
official said Thursday, the latest of the endangered creatures to be killed.
The male elephant, believed to be about four years old, was found Monday by
the side of a road in the state of Sabah, on the Malaysian part of Borneo,
local wildlife department director Augustine Tuuga told AFP.
He said the “merciless” killing was carried out near a remote settlement,
and authorities were investigating who was responsible.
“(The elephant) was killed out of revenge for destroying crops,” he said,
adding the crops included palm oil trees.
He said the creature’s tusks remained intact, indicating the elephant was
not killed by poachers seeking to sell its ivory on the black market.
It was the latest case in Malaysia of human-animal conflict, which happens
when human settlements or agricultural plantations expand into a species’s
natural habitat.
Malaysia is home to vast tracts of rainforest and a kaleidoscope of exotic
wildlife, from elephants to orangutans and tigers, but the numbers of many
rare species have fallen dramatically in recent decades.
As well as human-animal conflict, many endangered animals are hunted for
their body parts which fetch a high price for use in traditional medicine in
China, and elsewhere in Asia.
At least 18 pygmy elephants have been killed in Malaysian Borneo since
April, The Star newspaper reported. Causes of death included elephants being
targeted by poachers and poisoning.
Pygmy elephants are baby-faced with large ears, plump bellies and long
tails that sometimes drag on the ground, according to environmental group
WWF.
Rainforest-clad Borneo is the world’s third-largest island and is shared
between Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1350 hrs