{{Ten endangered pygmy elephants found dead this month are thought to have been poisoned, Malaysian officials said Tuesday as they released poignant photos of a calf nuzzling the body of its mother.}}<\/p>\n
Wildlife authorities in Sabah, a state on the east of Borneo island, have formed a taskforce together with the police and WWF to investigate the deaths.<\/p>\n
Laurentius Ambu, Sabah wildlife department director, said it received a report last Wednesday of four dead pygmy elephants in the Gunung Rara forest reserve.<\/p>\n
But officials were \u201cshocked\u201d to find another four of the animals, a rare sub-species of the Asian elephant, dead or dying after inspecting the area for two days, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarly this year, two highly decomposed elephant carcasses were found in the general vicinity of where these eight animals were found. <\/p>\n
We believe that all the deaths of these elephants are related,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Sen Nathan, the department\u2019s senior veterinarian, said in the statement \u201cwe highly suspect\u201d the animals died due to poisoning after finding severe ulceration and bleeding in their digestive tracts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was actually a very sad sight to see all those dead elephants, especially one of the dead females who had a very young calf of about three months old. The calf was trying to wake the dead mother up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Masidi Manjun, the state\u2019s environment minister, vowed to take tough action if the animals were found to have been deliberately poisoned.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf indeed these poor elephants were maliciously poisoned I would personally make sure that the culprits would be brought to justice and pay for their crime,\u201d he said in the statement.<\/p>\n
There are fewer than 2,000 Borneo pygmy elephants, which are smaller and have more rounded features compared to normal Asian elephants, left in the wild, according to authorities.<\/p>\n
Activists warn that pygmy elephants are fast losing their natural habitat to deforestation and human encroachment on Borneo, a vast island shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.<\/p>\n
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