Revenge likely motive of killing of elephant

KOTA KINABALU: The motive behind the killing of a 10-yearold Borneo pygmy elephant at a plantation near the Malua Forest Reserve in Kinabatangan is believed to be due to revenge.

Sabah Forestry Department chief conservator of forests Datuk Sam Mannan told Star Online yesterday the elephant that was shot in its head, stomach and torso was unlikely to be a victim of poachers as it was female and did not have tusks.

“So we are not sure why someone would want to kill a female elephant if not for revenge,” he said.

He said investigators believe the elephant may have been killed because it had probably destroyed crops or young oil palm trees.

Rangers from the Sabah Wildlife Department and the national Wildlife Department are interviewing workers at plantations along the Malua and Segama Forest reserves, where the elephant was found dying on Aug 4.

Human-elephant conflicts in the east coast have forced landowners to kill these elephants to stop them from destroying their crops.

“However, we are still not sure about the motive or who killed it,” Mannan said yesterday.

He said forest rangers have identified landowners in the area and were in the process of interviewing them.

“We are also looking for witnesses, and we hope someone can tell us who did this and why,” he added.

The jumbo was first discovered still alive by plantation workers at 7am on August 4, but had died by the time wildlife officers arrived on Sunday. Late last year, three pygmy elephants, including a rare sabre tusk jumbo, were killed by poachers in the Segama area. The suspects remain unidentified.