SUKAU, Sept 21 — Deep in Malaysia’s Borneo jungle, wild shouts fill the air as a Bornean elephant is darted and her indignant herd rallies to guard her.
The downed elephant is considered one of solely round 1,000 Bornean elephants left within the wild, and the staff that darted her is working to guard the endangered species by minimising rising battle between the animals and native communities.
As soon as the herd has been chased off, conservationist Farina Othman and her staff transfer in to connect a monitoring collar to the animal.
This picture taken on August 24, 2026, reveals Farina measuring the size of a feminine Bornean elephant’s leg throughout a GPS collaring operation as a part of a collaboration involving a number of businesses close to the Kinabatangan River in Sukau. — AFP pic
The collar permits them to alert villagers if the elephant strays too close to.
Additionally it is key to a programme Farina is designing to create “corridors” for elephants roaming a fragmented panorama of virgin forest patches, hemmed in by huge oil palm plantations and villages.
Farina has studied these elephants for years, incomes her the nickname “Borneo’s elephant whisperer” in addition to the distinguished Whitley Award for conservationists.
This picture taken on August 25, 2026, reveals a wild feminine Bornean elephant with a GPS collar round her neck crossing the Kinabatangan River in Sukau. — AFP pic
“It’s Pigtail,” she whispered, stroking the tranquilised elephant’s trunk and nodding to the distinctive tail that prompted its nickname.
The staff works quick — the dart’s sedative results final solely half an hour, and the herd can nonetheless be heard close by. Overhead, there are flashes of lightning as a tropical thunderstorm approaches.
As quickly because the collar is securely fixed and blood samples are taken, the staff, accompanied by AFP journalists, retreat into the forest earlier than Pigtail rouses.
‘Battle inevitable’
This picture taken on August 25, 2026, reveals a herd of untamed Bornean elephants crossing the Kinabatangan River in Sukau. — AFP pic
For the previous 40 years, Bornean elephants have misplaced greater than 60 per cent of their habitat in Sabah, in northern Borneo, to logging and, later, oil palm enlargement, in line with the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature, which listed the animal as endangered in 2024.
Decrease Kinabatangan, a floodplain in jap Sabah of round 400 sq. kilometres, is residence to round 160 elephants.
However “solely half of that’s now an area left for the elephants,” stated Farina, a Malaysian educational who heads native conservation group Seratu Aatai, or “Solidarity” within the native Sungai language.
When the animals enterprise into non-public property or close by villages, “battle is inevitable”, she informed AFP.
This aerial picture taken on August 26, 2026, reveals a basic view with the Kinabatangan River and surrounding jungle in Sukau, a small village close to Sandakan in Sabah state on the island of Borneo. — AFP pic
In a current incident, a herd of 20 elephants stomped into palm oil smallholdings and three villages, terrifying residents.
Nobody was injured, however the incident prompted requires stronger deterrents, together with upgraded electrical fencing.
“Individuals don’t really feel protected round elephants, and that’s when battle occurs,” Farina stated.
The animosity worsens when the animals, particularly adventurous bulls, which might weigh as much as 5 tonnes, cleverly bypass electrical fencing to feast on palm bushes or saplings.
That’s the reason Farina and her staff of 17 conservationists prioritise coexistence.
A herd of untamed Bornean elephants crossing the Kinabatangan River in Sukau. — AFP pic
“We’re working to extend individuals’s tolerance, to extend connectivity area for elephants and to discover a long-term answer,” she stated.
Primarily based in Sukau, a hamlet on the crocodile-infested banks of the Kinabatangan river, Seratu Aatai runs an outreach programme in plantation faculties, distributes info pamphlets and has designated “group wildlife guardians” who assist usher away elephants which have wandered into human habitation.
“Earlier than, we didn’t know easy methods to handle dwelling close to them,” stated homestay proprietor Firah Kazenn, 21, who just lately encountered elephants behind her residence in Sukau.
“The elephants have been unmonitored, and lots of have been misplaced to battle. Now, with the Seratu Aatai unit, they’re protected, and the group is actively concerned too,” Firah informed AFP.
This picture taken on August 27, 2026, reveals boats docked alongside the shore of the Kinabatangan River and surrounded with jungle in Sukau. — AFP pic
“We’ve learnt protected methods to information the elephants away once they come too near our properties, with out harming them,” she added.
‘Win-win state of affairs’
Farina believes the easiest way to guard the animals is by creating “elephant corridors” — pathways via plantations connecting patches of habitat.
She is hoping to persuade seven plantations within the space that elephants are “an ecological actuality, somewhat than an occasional disturbance”.
However it is going to be a problem.
Fierce competitors pushed by tight, risky margins means many producers aren’t eager to sacrifice land for corridors, stated Muhammad Al Shafieq bin Mustafa, a former plantation supervisor in Sukau and now a palm oil business specialist.
Members of the staff led by Farina measuring the size of a feminine Bornean elephant throughout a GPS collaring operation as a part of a collaboration involving a number of businesses close to the Kinabatangan River in Sukau. — AFP pic
“These plantations that do commit and are prepared to work with individuals like Farina usually don’t get the popularity that they deserve or the monetary help that they want, particularly from Western palm oil patrons,” he informed AFP.
Trade-funded conservation associations say plantations have made progress in changing into sustainable palm oil producers however face troublesome financial realities.
“It must be a win-win state of affairs between the planters and likewise the wildlife,” stated Daniel Pamin, conservation and sustainability government on the Malaysian Palm Oil Inexperienced Conservation Basis.
This picture taken on August 24, 2026, reveals Nabila Sarkawi, a veterinary officer with the Sabah Wildlife Division at Sepilok (again), watching Khairun Amlan (proper) administering a multivitamin injection throughout a GPS collaring operation led by Farina (unseen) as a part of a collaboration involving a number of businesses close to the Kinabatangan River in Sukau. — AFP pic
Farina believes change will come.
Earlier than, locals used the Malay phrase “halau”, which means “ward off” or “banish”, when speaking about elephants.
“Now, we’re working to get individuals to say… ‘strolling’ or ‘escorting’ out the elephant.” — AFP
A wild male Bornean elephant crossing the Kinabatangan River with a plastic bag wrapped round its trunk in Sukau. — AFP pic
