Liew, who is also tourism, culture and environment minister, has asked the state Wildlife Department, which is under her purview, to take extra measures to curb such deaths.

“I’d like to push the Wildlife Department to minimise these unfortunate deaths,” she said on the sidelines of the state assembly sitting today.

“Members of the public find it very distressing to see these animals dying.

“We’re doing our best. We’ll be transparent so the public will know.”

Liew said the latest death was that of a baby elephant. Its carcass was found in a river in Kinabatangan, on Sabah’s east coast, yesterday.

State Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said a tourist boat stumbled upon the baby elephant, believed to be about two years old in Sukau, Kinabatangan.

“The team secured the elephant carcass to the river bank and we’ll send a vet to conduct the post-mortem to determine the cause of death. Preliminary findings show there were no injuries on the elephant’s body.

“Another report we received yesterday was the discovery of a male elephant with injuries to its front leg, due to snare traps, near Taliwas, a recreational area in Lahad Datu,” he said.

A rescue team, including veterinarians, were sent this morning to secure and treat the wounded animal, he added.

There have been several reported deaths of elephants in recent months. A young male Borneo pygmy elephant, believed to have been shot dead, was found in Tongod, a district in the heart of Sabah, in July.

The same month, another elephant was found dead in an oil palm plantation in Ulu Segama, Lahad Datu. The elephant died due to a wound infection in its foot, caused by a snare trap.