A mother elephant stood by the lifeless form of her calf for nearly five hours, as if pleading for help, after a lorry struck the five year old baby elephant along KM80 of the Gerik-Jeli stretch of the East-West Highway at 2.50am on Sunday, May 11, 2025.

When the incident went viral, Malaysians were touched and moved, saddened by what the mother elephant had to endure and there was an outpouring of grief on social media calling for preventive measures to prevent such accidents.

Although this incident received much publicity, it must be noted that tragedies such as these affecting animals are not new as 2,361 wild animals have been killed by vehicle collisions throughout the country since the year 2020.

Data from the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry showed the state of Pahang had the highest road kills at 765 animals, Perak (478), Kelantan (224), Terengganu (201) and Negeri Sembilan (187).

Going by species, there were eight elephant deaths, one in 2020, two each in 2021 and 2024 and so far this year there has been three deaths and to prevent further mishaps the government is set to conduct various initiatives.

These initiatives include an increased allocation of RM250 million this year to enable state governments to increase the acreage of forest reserves and constructing elephant sanctuaries in Johor, Pahang, Perak and Terengganu.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE