KOTA KINABALU: A male elephant, with a badly wounded foot, was found dead in an oil palm plantation at Ulu Segama, Lahad Datu, yesterday.
Plantation workers discovered the elephant's carcass in the Low Woo Thien oil palm plantation at 5.10pm and alerted the Lahad Datu wildlife office.
Sabah Wildlife Department officer Siti Nurain Ampuan Acheh, in a statement, said a team of rangers from the district wildlife office was immediately dispatched to the location.
She said the team found no criminal element in the elephant’s death but noted its rear foot was wounded by snare trap.
“The height of the elephant was measured at 5 feet 10 inches and it was believed to be four to five years of age.
“The cause of death was due to septicemia from the severely injured leg caused by the wound, concurrent with severe helminthiasis (gastrointestinal parasites infection),” she said.
This was the third reported incident of wildlife carcass discovery thus far, this month.
On July 11, a semi-adult male orangutan was found dead in an orchard adjacent to Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve.
The Wildlife Department was alerted of the discovery by a staff of a nearby resort.
A team from the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre found no sign of infliction or physical injury.
This follows the discovery of a carcass of an adolescent male proboscis monkey the following day in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary.
A Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) research team, which found the remains near their research centre, performed a post-mortem on it recently.
Sabah Wildlife director Augustine Tuuga had said the proboscis monkey had an open abscess on its right hip and right lung, which might have caused the death.
Nonetheless, Augustine said the department would further investigate the death of these totally protected animals.