Guides ignoring warnings may have caused Borneo elephant kill

A wildlife expert in the Malaysian province of Sabah has blamed the failure of tourist guides to relay warnings to their clients for the death of a young Australian woman who was gored by a bull elephant.

Writing on eGlobal Travel Media, Peter Needham suggests that tourism agents and their guides had been warned "countless times" not to bring tourists too close to wild animals - and in particular, wild elephants - but the warnings were mostly ignored.

Jenna O'Grady Donley, 26, a Sydney-based veterinarian, was attacked and killed last week by a rare pygmy elephant while taking pictures of the animal at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in the east coast of the island of Borneo. Donley, along with a companion and guide had apparently strayed off designated paths having been disappointed at not seeing more wildlife.

There is speculation that the animal may have been startled by the camera's shutter and flash. Donley died instantly when the rare pygmy elephant speared her with one of its tusks in a remote Sabah wildlife park.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu told the English-language Borneo Post newspaper that while he had yet to receive the full report, "I was told that the guide and the two female tourists from Australia went to the elephant trail near the mud volcano and went too close (to the elephant) to take photos."

Dr Ambu suggested that the tourists and the guide probably provoked the elephant to go after them, adding "you cannot go too close to these elephants. They are wild elephants. If they feel provoked, something like this is bound to happen. They might look tame, but we have to always remember that they are wild."

Dr Ambu blamed tourist guides for not relaying this message to the tourists under their care when they were out in the wild saying he was aware of incidences of tourist guides risking their lives as well as those under their care by getting too close to wild elephants.

Dr Ambu said elephant attacks in the wild were not uncommon in Sabah, although this was the first case where the victim died on the spot.

Image: Elephant in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve 

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