Kota Kinabalu: A heart-wrenching incident on May 11 has brought renewed attention to the dangers Malaysia’s road networks pose to wildlife, including in Sabah.
A five-year-old male elephant calf was fatally struck by a 10-tonne lorry while attempting to cross the East-West Highway in the Belum-Temenggor Forest Reserve. The calf’s mother remained by its side for five hours, desperately trying to rescue her offspring, in a scene that has since gone viral and sparked public outcry.
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Professor Benoit Goossens from Danau Girang Field Centre and Dr Nurzhafarina Othman from Seratu Aatai express their concerns and implore the Government to consider mitigation measures for the Tawai Forest Reserve alignment in Telupid, Sabah.
“This tragedy underscores the broader issue of human-wildlife conflict exacerbated by infrastructure development”, said Goossens, from Cardiff University.
“In response, the Malaysian Government has announced plans to incorporate dedicated wildlife crossings into future highway designs to prevent similar incidents. Why not act now for the Pan Borneo Highway?
“I sincerely hope that it is not too late to do this for the proposed alignment in Telupid for which construction will start soon,” he added.
“With Coalition Humans, Habitats, Highways (3H), we have emphasised for many years that road construction through wildlife habitats not only leads to fatal accidents but also increases the risk of poaching and habitat fragmentation,” said Dr Nurzhafarina, from Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
The proposed Pan Borneo Highway alignment which cuts through the Tawai Forest Reserve would endanger the elephant population in the reserve as well as other protected species such as the Bornean orang-utan, the Sunda clouded leopard, the Malayan sun bear and the Bornean peacock pheasant.
“Events like the one on May 11 will definitely happen in Telupid if nothing is done,” added Dr Nurzhafarina.
This incident in the peninsula serves as a poignant reminder of the urgent need to balance infrastructure development with wildlife conservation.
“It would be a shame if that poor baby elephant died in vain. We sincerely hope that mitigation measures could be implemented immediately, such as building dedicated wildlife crossings, or even better, viaducts at the two elephant hotspots that our research has identified.
“There is also a need to enforce speed limits and install warning signage and lighting to alert drivers of potential wildlife crossings.
“Finally, preventing heavy lorries to use the stretch crossing the forest reserve at night and force them to use the existing Telupid road, would limit the chance of dramatic accidents leading to human and wildlife casualties,” they said
