SANDAKAN: The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is offering a RM50,000 reward
in exchange for information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of the persons responsible for the killing of a pygmy elephant found in Beluran.
RSPO chief executive officer Datuk Darrel Webber condemned the killing of the endangered pygmy elephant found with gunshot wounds and without its tusks at an oil palm plantation in Beluran last Saturday morning.
“The reward is a small gesture to help with the efforts on the ground and will be coordinated through the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD),” he said in a statement here yesterday.
The carcass of the adult male elephant was the second discovered with gunshot wounds less than a month
after another pygmy elephant carcass was found at Sungai Dumpas, Kalabakan, Tawau on Sept 25.
The elephant found dead in Beluran was believed to have died about five days before being discovered by plantation workers.
“Those responsible must be brought to justice and stand accountable for their vicious actions.
“These recent killings are symptoms of a larger problem — a problem that will only grow if we, collectively, do not intervene,” said Webber. – Bernama
