After losing his mother Joe is urged to eat by a wildlife officer in Borneo (Picture: Sabah Wildlife Department/AFP)
The orphaned elephant whose plight touched the nation when he was seen trying to wake his poisoned mother is feared to be dying from a broken heart.
The Borneo pygmy calf is losing weight fast and experts say it will be a ‘challenging task’ to keep him alive as he is consuming only half the amount of milk he should do.
Named Joe, the three-month-old animal is said to have been left traumatised by an 800km (500-mile) road trip to a quarantine facility and has lost 10kg (1st 8lb) since his arrival.
His mother was among ten elephants from the same family found dead in Malaysia’s Gunung Rara Forest Reserve earlier this month.
Since the calf’s rescue another four fatalities have been reported this week in the island state of Sabah.
They all died of internal bleeding but lab tests have yet to show if they were killed deliberately and a special task force has been set up to look into the suspicious deaths.
One theory is the animals were poisoned by toxic substances left out by workers at a nearby oil palm plantation to protect their crops from wildlife. State environment minister Masidi Manjun reiterated his pledge to potentially imprison anyone found to have maliciously killed the ‘majestic’ animals.