FED:Australian gored to death by elephant

AAP General News (Australia)
12-08-2011
FED:Australian gored to death by elephant

SYDNEY, Dec 8 AAP - A 25-year-old Australian woman has died after being mauled by a
pygmy elephant in a remote wildlife park on Borneo island in Malaysia.

The woman, who has been identified as Sydney-based veterinarian Jenna O'Grady Donley
by Malaysian newspaper The Star, was trekking with a friend and a local guide in the Tabin
Wildlife Reserve in Sabah state when the group were attacked by the rare pygmy elephant
on Wednesday.

While the guide and the other woman managed to get away, the elephant's tusk pierced
Ms Donley's body and she died instantly, the state wildlife department director Laurentius
Ambu told AFP.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed that a 25-year-old from
NSW had died in Malaysia and that her death was believed to be the result of an elephant
attack.

"We are providing consular assistance to her family in Australia," DFAT said in a statement
on Wednesday.

"The family has requested that their privacy be respected."

The bull may have been startled when the two tourists tried to take its photo and charged
at them, Ambu told AFP.

Ambu said the women had trekked to a mud volcano but were disappointed that they didn't
see much wildlife so the guide took them back another way and not on the main path.

Police are questioning the guide. Ambu said fatal attacks were rare though single elephant
bulls are known to be aggressive.

Pygmy elephants, which are about two-and-a-half metres tall compared to about three
metres for mainland Asian elephants, are unique to Borneo.

AAP ct/apm

KEYWORD: MALAYSIA ELEPHANT

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