The Malaysians government should act swiftly on the suspected poisoning of endangered Bornean elephants in the eastern state of Sabah, a leading conservation group said yesterday as

the bodies of more pachyderms were recovered.

Wildlife authorities in Sabah reported 14 Bornean elephants have been found dead since Dec 29 in a forest reserve near Tawau town, 1,800km east of Kuala Lumpur.

NONE The 14 included four bodies recovered in the past two days in the same general area where the first 10 dead elephants had been found, Sabah wildlife director Laurentius Ambu said yesterday.

Laurentius said he was awaiting the results of tests conducted to determine the cause of death to determine his next course of action.

Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) president Maketab Mohamed said the suspected poisoning of the elephants was a big blow to conservation efforts in the country.

"MNS acknowledges that elephants can sometimes pose as a possible menace when they roam into villages and plantations, but proper measures should be taken to relocate these animals into other forest reserves instead of resorting to desperate acts like poisoning these animals," Maketab said in a statement.

"MNS hopes that the local authorities will act swiftly to ensure that the population of these pygmy elephants and other endangered animals are not in jeopardy due to the lack of enforcement, even within the confines of the state's forest reserves," he said.

The Bornean pygmy elephant, a subspecies of Asiatic elephant, can only be found in Sabah and the nearby Indonesian province of Kalimantan.

An estimated 2,000 Bornean elephants roam Sabah forests.

- dpa