TAWAU: A Bornean pygmy elephant carcass with three gunshot wounds was found within the Cenderamata Plantation at Jalan Merotai-Kalabakan, near here.
Plantation workers discovered the dead bull on Tuesday and alerted the authority. The elephant was believed to have been shot by poachers.
Sabah Wildlife director Augustine Tuuga said the department despatched officers to the site to conduct post-mortem and conduct further investigation.
“The tusk is still intact and post-mortem result found three bullets on the carcass. The elephant could have been shot elsewhere and fled.
“We are trying to track down the culprit and are also looking for those, who witnessed the shooting incident, so they can furnish us with information,” he said.
In September, the carcasses of two Bornean pygmy elephant – one without its tusks – were found in two separate locations in Sabah’s east coast.
The first discovery involved a male calf with its tusks still intact. It was found dead in the plantation area in Dumpas Tawau.
While an adult male elephant was found floating in the Kinabatangan river.
In August, plantation workers also spotted an adult Bornean pygmy elephant struggling for its life after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds in an oil palm plantation the Malua Forest Reserve in Kinabatangan.
The adult female elephant, however, succumbed to its injuries.