Published on: Sunday, January 03, 2021
By: Elena Koshy
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Dr Nur with the elephant that was later found poisoned. Facing camera is Dr Diana who was involved with the Lok Kawi Zoo and committed suicide for yet unknown reasons two years ago. Nur named the elephant in her memory.
“SHE’S dead,” she says simply before lapsing into silence, eyes glistening. It’s been a tough week for Dr Nurzhafarina Othman. The elephant specialist had just received news that her elephant, whom she’d been observing for over a year, had been found dead in a plantation in Kinabatangan, presumably of suspected poisoning. It’s the same elephant she named “Diana” in honour of her friend, Dr Diana Angeles Ramirez Salvidar, who passed away suddenly two years ago.