Borneo Elephant Wildlife Sanctuary begin operation in mid 2012

The Borneo Elephant Wildlife Sanctuary in Kinabatangan will begin operation by the middle of this year.

Sabah Wildlife Director, Dr. Laurentius Ambu, said 2,000 hectares of land have been allocated to provide shelter and rehabilitate rescued Borneo pygmy elephants.

“We do not intend to house all the (rescued) elephants there. We will keep the animals there for treatment and then we will release them back into the wild,” he told reporters after the opening of the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloquium 2012 here yesterday.

The colloquium was opened by Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.

Ambu said for a start, 20 elephants would be given shelter for treatment and rehabilitation once the sanctuary is operational.

He said there are 60 to 100 elephants of the pygmy species to be located and rescued using satellite tracking. The pygmy elephant is a smaller kind of the elephant species. They are considered endangered and about 2,000 remain in Sabah.

The sanctuary will be operated by the Sabah Wildlife Department and the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, and consists of a rescue facility and a research and education division.

Meanwhile, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Masidi Manjun has urged people in the state, particularly players in the oil palm industry, to help the government in protecting wildlife and the biodiversity.

He said, lately, the natural habitats of wildlife such as elephants, rhinos and orang utans have become increasingly threatened and smaller in size.

“This is due to the growth of human population that requires more space and food. Widespread activity of clearing forests for various development purposes have also contributed to decreasing wildlife habitat.

“In order to solve this problem, the Wildlife Department with the support of the Malaysia Palm Oil Council and Borneo Conservation Trust as well as non-government organisations like the Hutan-Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Programme and the Danau Girang Field Centre have organised the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloquium,” he said.

By the year 2025, the population in Sabah is expected to grow up to 30 per cent to reach 4.2 million.

“I do not want to think that at the same time, we will face a drop of 30 per cent in wildlife population,” said Masidi.

The two-day Colloquium attracted delegates from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, United Kingdom, United States and Australia.

Meanwhile, Dompok has urged the Malaysian oil palm industry to collaborate with the state government in implementing the Species Action Plan, particularly for the conservation and rehabilitation of Sabah’s three iconic species – the orang utan, the Borneo pygmy elephant and the Sumatran rhinoceros.

“I am optimistic that, with the cooperation of all the parties, the oil palm industry can co-exist in a sustainable manner with the environment, particularly in Sabah,” he said.

Source: http://newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/55179 

Green Sabah says: Hope that the Oil Palm industry within the state will give cooperation to the State government to help conserve and rehabilitate the Orang Utan, Pygmy Elephants and Sumatran Rhinos to prevent them from going extinct. It is possible to transform our local industry to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly.