Kota Kinabalu: A wildlife activist has called for more drastic action to stem what appears to be a trend of targetting Bornean elephants for their tusks offering an attractive bounty.
“A RM50,000 to RM100,000 bounty to hunt down those responsible might work,’ said Shavez Cheema, following the recent killing of a pygmy elephant in Tongod and another which was seen wandering with a severely injured trunk in Tawau.
“The RM10,000 bounty is nothing, we need a bounty of RM50,000 or even RM100,000. Play their game. We just need to catch one person and it will set the tone,” said the founder of 1StopBorneo Wildlife.
Shavez pledged RM5,000 towards such an initiative, urging NGOs, companies and the public to collectively raise the amount.
A male elephant was found dead in the Sungai Pinangah Forest Reserve in Tongod on May 17 with part of its head removed, believed linked to tusk extraction.
Shavez said he was deeply disturbed, particularly because one of the incidents occurred near one of his NGO 1Stop Borneo’s project sites.
“I have come across dead pangolins, leopards, hornbills and pythons on the road. This one really struck me because it happened near our project site and we work so closely with elephants.”
He described the killing as horrifying, asking the public to imagine the pain the animal would have endured while being butchered.
“Can you imagine the pain it went through while being chainsawed? That is just absolutely disgusting,” he said.
While graphic images of wildlife cruelty often spread rapidly online before disappearing from public attention, Shavez said Sabahans cannot afford to become emotionally detached from what is happening in their own forests.
“This is your backyard, this is your home. If you do not protect it, who will? You cannot protect the lions of Africa or the tigers of India first while ignoring the animals in your own backyard,” he said.
He said it is not that wildlife crimes are becoming more brutal today. Such activities have existed for years but are only now being widely exposed through social media and public awareness.
“We knew pangolins were being sold. We knew sea snakes were being chopped up for tourists and pythons were being eaten. These things have been happening all along.
“Now everybody is being exposed and in a way it is good because it can reduce crime in the long run, especially with education,” he said.
Shavez also noted that Sabah Wildlife Department officers are committed but are struggling against limited manpower and funding.
“Sabah is huge. It is impossible to have officers in every corner,” he said. Authorities are currently monitoring the injured elephant seen in Tawau, while investigations continue into both cases.
Despite the recent incidents, Shavez believes Sabah is still ahead of many places in wildlife conservation, pointing to the work being carried out by NGOs, government agencies and private companies across the state.
However, he warned that Sabah could eventually lose part of its identity if iconic wildlife species continue disappearing.
“We have already lost the Sumatran rhino, if we lose all these animals, Sabah will lose its value,” he said, adding that endangered species such as dugongs, bantengs and clouded leopards also require urgent protection.
“Conservation cannot rely on authorities alone.”
