Elephant that killed Indonesian culled
Published on: Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: The elephant which killed an Indonesian worker at the Dumpas timber plantation in Kalabakan in Tawau was shot and killed by the Sabah Wildlife Department on Sunday. Its Director Augustine Tuuga said the bull elephant was in musth and rutting and thus, aggression was likely due to the increased testosterone in its body. "We did not want to take any chances with the bull as it had already killed a man. "Chances are that, it would have attacked again if anyone had come across its path," he said on Monday.
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Wildlife officers in the East Coast region were put on high alert following the incident and were told to monitor the movements of herds and behaviour of each elephant in the area. The weekend incident was the second recorded this month with the first being on Nov 9, involving an Indonesian couple being attacked by a raging elephant at a timber plantation in Brumas also in Tawau. The killing of the bull elephant however was not received well by former Tourism and Culture Ministry Permanent Secretary Datuk Wilfred Lingam.He said the option to cull the elephant should never be an option, arguing that the population of the animal has dwindled significantly for years. "It is unthinkable to consider culling given the remaining numbers are not much.
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