Sabah to create a food corridor

It aims to reduce human-jumbo conflict

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah hopes to fast track the creation of a “green food corridor” along the Kinabatangan River to minimise humanelephant conflict.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew said the state has identified over 160ha of land along the Kinabatangan River where elephants and other wildlife including orang utan frequent.

“I held a meeting with a few NGOs and we have decided the best way was for the creation of this green food corridor so that the elephants particularly can forage for food within their traditional (foraging) area in Kinabatangan.

“This way, the herds won’t go into oil palm plantations for food. The best way is to provide food sources in their known habitats,” said Liew, who is state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, yesterday.

She said she has also explained to Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal about the plan following the latest deaths of the protected Borneo pygmy elephants.

She said she has yet to get the detailed post-mortem reports of the two elephants found dead in Tawau and Kinabatangan on Thursday night.

“There is no indication on the cause of the deaths,” she said, adding that the samples had been sent for a toxicology test by the Sabah Wildlife Department.

Liew said the elephants could have consumed some poison elsewhere before dying at the spot they were found.

With the latest fatalities, the east coast of Sabah has recorded seven elephant deaths since December.

The pygmy elephant deaths continued to raise concerns about poaching and humanelephant conflict in Sabah’s east coast.

The two latest deaths involved an adult cow near a plantation in Sukau near Kinabatangan while the other was found near a state-own plantation area in Tawau.

In earlier incidents between December and January, it was learnt that at least two elephants were believed to have been shot by poachers while the death of three others could not be ascertained.

The deaths were in Kinabatangan, Tawau and Lahad Datu.

Last year, Sabah reported 27 elephants deaths related to poisoning, poaching and natural causes.