IOI Corporation Berhad (IOI) would like to respond to the various news reports in October 2019 regarding the death of a pygmy elephant, whose carcass was found in IOI’s estate adjacent to Segaliud Lokan Forest Reserve in Beluran district, Sandakan, Sabah.

Following the incident, we have been providing our full cooperation and support to the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), Beluran Police officers and relevant authorities to carry out a full investigation. Post mortem investigation has revealed that the male elephant, age approximately 23 to 27 years old, died 5 to 7 days before the carcass was found, with no bullet wounds on the elephant's body. After the post mortem, the elephant was buried at the site.

We would like to reiterate that IOI is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and is fully committed to our sustainability requirements including the protection of High Conservation Value, High Carbon Stock, peat areas, forest reserve and all rare, threatened or endangered species (RTE) within our operations. IOI works very closely with the local authorities including the SWD and has consistently taken proactive actions and mitigation measures to educate and prevent our workforce from hunting, capturing, harming, trading and/or the possession of these species. Incidents involving hunting or poaching activities will be reported to the estate management and the relevant authorities and will be dealt with according to the law.

Our other commitments include putting in place practical guidelines to handle any wildlife entering the plantation, specifically elephants are allowed to roam freely in our estates except where the areas are fenced with low voltage electric fence to keep them out of sensitive areas like the nurseries. These areas are also patrolled by our personnel with dogs and the herd tends to shy away from them. It is to be noted that the estate does not provide security personnel with firearms as a means to keep the elephants away. Our patrolling activities also includes the areas along the forest reserve boundaries and we ensure that “No Hunting” signboards are placed prominently in and around our estates.

In addition to the cooperation with SWD in the recent case, IOI has been working closely with the Wildlife Rescue Unit from SWD on the mission of rescuing pygmy elephants. In November 2018, our staff from IOI Bimbingan 2 Estate successfully translocated a 10 years old pygmy elephant to a new home at Gunung Rara, Luasong Forest Reserve.