No end to deaths of elephants in Sabah as 4 more die this week

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga says latest case had gunshot wound to skull.

A round-shaped wound on the temple of the dead elephant believed to be caused by a shotgun.

KOTA KINABALU: A total of 25 elephants have been killed in Sabah this year with the latest four found dead since last Saturday, said the Sabah Wildlife Department.

According to the department director, Augustine Tuuga, the rampant deaths have continued despite the department’s incentive to reward witnesses RM120,000 for information that could lead to the arrest of those responsible.

“The incentive has been going on for five years but nobody has come forward. The investigation into the death of the 14 elephants in Gunung Rasa five years ago is still not closed.

“We also offered RM20,000 for information on the killing of a sabre elephant last year. I don’t know why but it is possible that maybe they really do not have any information,” he told reporters here today.

Tuuga said for now the department is conducting a thorough investigation on the deaths of these elephants, noting that the latest death involving a juvenile pygmy elephant was due to a gunshot wound to its temple which penetrated the skull.

“The carcass of a female elephant was found on Ladang Bintang Emas Property Sdn Bhd in Tongod on Saturday. The case was reported to the department by the Tongod district forest officer.

“The department dispatched a team of rangers and veterinary officers to investigate and conduct a post-mortem on Aug 27,” he said.

When the team arrived, he said the carcass was found to be decomposing and the elephant was believed to have died about a week earlier.

While Tuuga did not provide the exact number of deaths caused by gunshot wounds, he noted that for elephants found dead without any wounds, toxicology tests would be conducted.

“The toxicology tests will be done locally by the Sabah Veterinary Services and Animal Industry Department, the Chemistry Department and a local university.

“Unfortunately, the results of these tests are normally inconclusive. Mostly, the results are negative to most known poisons and also bacterial or virus infections,” he said.

Sabah is believed to have 1,500 pygmy elephants left in the wild but the number is fast dwindling as human-elephant conflicts become more dangerous due to deforestation and massive land clearing, mostly for plantations.

Three weeks ago, Deputy Chief Minister Christina Liew said the state government may consider implementing a strict liability policy to hold plantation owners responsible for any elephants found killed on their land, in an attempt to clamp down on elephant deaths in plantations in the state.

The tourism, culture and environment minister said under this policy, plantation owners could be fined or jailed if convicted. FMT

✍ Sumber Pautan : ☕ Malaysians Must Know the TRUTH

Kredit kepada pemilik laman asal dan sekira berminat untuk meneruskan bacaan sila klik link atau copy paste ke web server : https://ift.tt/2C908tA

(✿◠‿◠)✌ Mukah Pages : Pautan Viral Media Sensasi Tanpa Henti. Memuat-naik beraneka jenis artikel menarik setiap detik tanpa henti dari pelbagai sumber. Selamat membaca dan jangan lupa untuk 👍 Like & 💕 Share di media sosial anda!