The Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) is offering a RM10,000 reward for informants with valid information on the two wild bull elephants that were slaughtered by poachers for their ivory near the Segama River, Kawag Forest Reserve.

The department has asked those with information to call the department at 013-5441980.

The first bull was found on Dec 27, last year, in the middle of an estate bordering Kawag Forest Reserve, while the second bull, a sabre-tusked bull called Sabre was found on New Year’s Eve.

Sabre was rescued from a plantation near Tawau and translocated to the Kawag Forest Reserve three months earlier, after it was collared by the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) and Wildlife Rescue Unit (WRU). When the carcass was discovered, the satellite collar was next to its skull.

The tusks of both bulls were removed.

DGFC Director, Benoit Goossens had explained that after Sabre was rescued at a plantation near Tawau last October, he was fitted with a satellite collar and later released at the forest reserve near Danum where it was thought that the bull would be safe.

“We were obviously wrong. In the space of a month, Sabre and another large bull were murdered by poachers for their ivory, both carcasses were found 1,500 meters from each other, although the killings did not happen at the same time,” said Goosens.

He added that according to their satellite data, Sabre was killed on Nov 21, 2016.

He also said that they would provide all necessary information to investigators and the police, stating that the killings were most possibly the work of professional hunter and trader.

“Our elephants are already threatened by habitat loss, development such as the planned road/bridge in Sukau – Kinabatangan, and if we add poaching for ivory, I don’t give many years to the species before it gets extinct,” said Goosens.

WRU Wildlife Veterinarian Dr Pakeeyaraj Nagalingam who took part in Sabre’s rescue and relocation said that there were no more safe havens for elephants in Sabah and that the relevant authorities responsible for enforcement of illegal wildlife poaching must work harder and smarter to protect the State’s wildlife.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by Jenne Lajiun

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