Wildlife officials in Sabah have been alerted to the discovery of a dead Borneo Pygmy elephant along the banks of the Kinabatangan river yesterday morning.
Villagers nearby alerted the Sabah Wildlife Department, who then deployed a team of officers to conduct an investigation and autopsy on the animal’s badly decomposed body.
At present, authorities are unsure if the critically-endangered elephant died of natural causes or at the hands of poachers. Officials will also have a hard time determining exactly where the animal died, as its body had already floated downstream when it was discovered.
Pygmy elephant deaths have dominated Malaysian headlines since September, most notably after one of the majestic animals was found dead with 70 gunshot wounds near a plantation in Kalabakan, Tawau. Another dead elephant was discovered near a plantation the following month, also with gunshot wounds, near a plantation in Beluran.
In both deaths, the tusks had been removed from the animals.
