WWF seeks forest protection for pygmy elephants 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 said Thursday, 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 Wednesday,
marking the 14th such death since December. The elephants are
feared to have been poisoned because they encroached on
Malaysian plantations, giving fresh urgency to activists'
warnings of rising conflict between man and wildlife as
development accelerates. The WWF said the dead elephants were
found in areas where forests were being converted for
plantations within permanent forest reserves. "The central
forest landscape in Sabah needs to be protected totally from
conversion," the group said in a statement. "Conversions result