Rare elephants were targeted

Published on 01/02/2013 01:38

More than a dozen pygmy elephants found dead and possibly poisoned in Malaysian forests were in reserves slated to be converted into plantations, the wildlife group WWF has said, raising the prospect that they were deliberately killed by humans taking over their habitat.

Authorities found the carcass of another endangered Borneo pygmy elephant, believed to have been dead for two weeks, in the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve late on Wednesday, marking the 14th such death.

“The central forest landscape in Sabah needs to be protected totally from conversion,” the group said in a statement.