JOHOR BARU: An elephant calf died after being hit by a car along Batu 10 Jalan Kota Tinggi-Mersing this morning.
Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia (Perhilitan) Johor Director Salman Saaban said they were informed by the public.
"Our team was deployed to the location and we found a young male elephant, about the size of an adult elephant's front foot, lying on the road.
"Investigations later showed that a Proton Persona driven from the direction of Kota Tinggi to Mersing hit the calf.
"Surveillance of the scene found three adult elephants still in the area," said Salman in a statement today.
Pictures of the elephant carcass were widely shared on social media this morning, prompting calls from netizens for people to be cautious when driving in the area, which is known as an elephant crossing.
Salman said the calf will be buried once its morphological carvings were recorded.
He said two other elephants had died after being hit by vehicles between Batu 4 and Batu 14 of Jalan Kota Tinggi-Mersing on Oct 6 (Batu 13) last year and on May 21, 2018 (Batu 14), respectively.