The first case: A sad find indeed for some local fishermen.

Cambodia News (Ratanakiri): A baby elephant was found dead, floating in the O'leav river, on the border between Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri provinces.

The conservation team of O'yadao national park went to the scene after receiving the information about the dead baby elephant from some local fishermen.
The villagers said that ten days ago, a herd of 20 to 30 elephants came to O'yadao national park and damaged the bamboo trees and other trees while walking across the border of Mondulkiri. It is suspected that the dead baby elephant came from this herd, but nobody knows the cause of death yet. The conservation officers took away the body to bury.

Second case:
Baby Elephant Found, Skinny But Alive
Cambodia News (Mondulkiri): A skinny baby elephant was found in Phnom Prech wildlife sanctuary in Mondulkiri.


According to social media, on January 18, 2020, Mr. Say Somal, an officer with the Ministry of Environment, reported that a baby elephant was found wandering alone in Phnom Prech sanctuary in Mondulkiri. It has lost the herd and is now being rescued by a conservation team. The little elephant is skinny and undernourished; it will need much feeding and care, but is expected to recover.
UPDATE: Unfortunately the baby elephant has died.

UPDATE: Sad to say that the malnourished baby elephant that was found by Mondulkiri rangers has died of starvation.

Cambodia News (Mondulkiri): A one-week-old baby elephant that was found by the WWF conservation team earlier in Phnom Prich shelter, Mondulkiri province, died on January 20, 2020, because it was too sick, and would not take food or water.

Note: Baby elephants stay very close to their mothers for the first couple of months, and they drink their mother's milk for about two years, sometimes longer. They drink up to 3 gallons of milk a day. Unfortunately, in this case, it seems that the separation from the mother was fatal for the baby. The exact cause of death has not been announced.



RIP baby elephant.

F***!!.

Rest in peace, Babies.


(how do you stop from going all sour? and bitter. I just tried to write a bit of hope into this - but it was just too false.)

Let me guess,,, that's not milk being fed to the baby elephant .

yeah Dunk, possibly not milk at the very first, first aid.
But i think they would have been getting good advice very quickly, and the local Mo Enviro guys would have acted on that advice to the very best of their ability.
Wildlife Alliance's Rapid Response Team would have almost certainly have been on their way already, and they use worlds best practice.

It looks like the usual saline drip in the background, LOL.
I scoffed of course, but it was probably part of the prescription. -and giving it water, 'dehydrated for sure.
Too late, is my guess.

The big Q - Why?
Elephants just don't abandon their young. as i understand it.
sigh

10 mins ago - BREAKING NEWS
Lost Mondulkiri Elephant calf dies

An elephant calf found alone last week in the Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri province died this morning despite park rangers trying to save it.

Environment Ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said that the elephant calf succumbed to an illness at about 3 am on Monday.

“We regret and are saddened by the death of the 10-day old elephant calf found in the Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary after days of caring. Park rangers were trying to save it,” Mr Pheaktra said.

Mondulkiri provincial environment department said that the elephant calf no longer ate fodder, did not drink water, did not move its legs and became weaker.

It said that the experts believed that its herd left behind the elephant calf because of its bad health.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50681529/e ... dead-today

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2020 5:13 pm yeah Dunk, possibly not milk at the very first, first aid.
But i think they would have been getting good advice very quickly, and the local Mo Enviro guys would have acted on that advice to the very best of their ability.
Wildlife Alliance's Rapid Response Team would have almost certainly have been on their way already, and they use worlds best practice.

It looks like the usual saline drip in the background, LOL.
I scoffed of course, but it was probably part of the prescription. -and giving it water, 'dehydrated for sure.
Too late, is my guess.

The big Q - Why?
Elephants just don't abandon their young. as i understand it.
sigh

If both were found dead with an area I too, find this suspect.

But the last news update was on my mind, mother realized it was sick and left it. IDK, I don't believe they abandon their sick like that though.


edit: I just googled, elephants do not leave behind their sick.

I've been googling.
In very rare and very extreme circumstances, elephants will sometimes abandon calves.
But only when the herd, including the dedicated mothers and "aunties", simply must move on.
Extreme danger, or drought usually.
That should not be the situation in this particular elephant habitat.

What is going on?
- Drought? doubtful. There was water in the river where the other one went down. Lots of jungle to eat where this population lives. but maybe.
- Hunters on the rampage? a definite possibility. Probably not elephant hunting, but other large animals that are around here too.
- "Development" of their habitat? Very likely candidate as well.
- Sickness epidemic? Flocking hope not.
- Unknown unknowns? always a starter.

But I agree Raven, Two - very suss.
I hope Wildlife Alliance is investigating. They do not have general conservation management duties in this area (i believe) but they do have a brief to look out for all Cambodian wildlife in distressed situations. This situation certainly qualifies, on the face of it.
Very experienced with elephants too.

Terrible news. I don't have time to fact check right now, but my first thought was the water supplies; the rivers are being poisoned in this region. The north-east of Cambodia is opening up to industrial mining, and in particular gold mining, which is very toxic. There have already been documented cases of poisoning of local people and animals from rivers in Mondulkiri and Kratie, and maybe Ratanakiri, so it's not too extreme to imagine that baby elephants could die from polluted water.