LAHAD DATU: A wild female elephant was found dead after it was trapped in the underground pit of an old sewage tank in an incident at the Danum Valley Field Centre (DVFC) area here on Oct 31.
In a statement issued by the Sabah Wildlife Department (JHL), upon receiving the information, a task force was immediately deployed who rushed to the location to conduct an investigation.
The JHL team found that the animal was still alive and efforts to rescue the animal were ongoing at the time.
“However, the effort had to be stopped when another group of wild elephants appeared near the area.
“It made the situation of the rescue operations unsafe to continue and had to be stopped,” the spokesperson said in the statement.
According to JHL, a re-examination at the location at around 1pm the next day found that the elephant was dead.
According to the spokesperson, further examination found that there were no signs of wounds or signs of suspicious injuries on the animal’s body.
“The process of burying the corpse was carried out at the DVFC area according to JHL’s standard operating procedure starting at 5.15pm and finished at around 6.40pm.
“It was done under the supervision of the Lahad Datu District Wildlife Officer.
“Preliminary investigations found that the death was caused by the structure of the old sewage tank which was not completely closed, thus posing a risk to wild animals in the conservation area,” the spokesperson said.
In this regard, the spokesperson said, the incident was the first incident involving the death of an elephant in the Danum Valley this year.
The case was classified as a Referral to Other Department (ROA) and handed over to the Sabah Wildlife Department for further action. – Fardy Bungga
