KOTA KINABALU: A weak and dehydrated young female Borneo pygmy
elephant was rescued in an oil palm plantation on Sabah’s east coast
amidst renewed calls by a wildlife expert for the creation of forest
corridors.
State Wildlife Department director Laurentius Ambu
said its personnel were alerted by Malaysian Palm Oil Board staff about
the two-year-old elephant trapped in a moat within the Lahad Datu
plantation.
He said the elephant appeared to have been left
behind by its herd, likely from the Tabin Wildlife Sanctuary in the
district.
Safe now:
Wildlife Department personnel calming the six-monthold female elephant
calf upon its arrival at the Wildlife Park in Lok Kawi near Kota
Kinabalu recently.
The find of the pachyderm on Friday
came barely two weeks after another six-month-old female elephant was
rescued from Ladang Felcra/KTS, also in the Lahad Datu district.
Laurentius
said both elephants were being transferred to the Lok Kawi Wildlife
Park about 15km from the city for observation.
He said the
department personnel had also fitted a tracking collar on an adult
female elephant in the Lower Kinabatangan region on the east coast.
This
would enable wildlife experts to track the animal’s movements to enable
them to better map out a forest corridor for the animals.
NGO
Hutan Elephant Conser-vation scientific director Dr Marc Ancrenaz said
forest corridors were urgently needed to link the isolated elephant
population currently trapped in the lower Kinabatangan flood plains
area.
“Due to increased human activity and extensive oil palm
plantations, the herds in Kinabatangan are completely disconnected from
the elephant population in the forest reserves of Segaliud, Tangkulap
and Deramakot,” he said.
Source : The Star
