"Our patrolling teams worked closely with the department in unearthing the incident," WWF-Malaysia's executive director, Dionysius S K Sharma, said in the statement.

"The central forest landscape in Sabah needs to be protected totally from conversions" from forest to farmland, he said. "All conversion approvals need to be reviewed by the Sabah Forestry Department and assessed not purely from commercial but the endangered species and landscape ecology perspectives.

"Conversions result in fragmentation of the forests, which in turn results in loss of natural habitat for elephant herds, thus forcing them to find alternative food and space, putting humans and wildlife in direct conflict."

Holistic, long-term solutions need to be put in place to address and mitigate the problem, Dionysius said.

While the cause of the elephants' deaths is being investigated, the future of the little calf found by his mother's side is uncertain. The calf, now named Joe, is said to be in the care of the Sabah Wildlife Department, but officials hope to have him rejoin a herd as soon as possible.