The oldest elephant in Malaysia, Lokimala died at the age of 86 on Friday due to old age after being brought in from Assam, India on June 22, 1974.
A female elephant belonging to the National Elephant Conservation Center (PKGK) Kuala Gandah, Lanchang acts as a caretaker at the center.
During Lokimala's lifetime, the elephant was involved in the operation of relocating more than 150 wild elephants in several states and was known for its easy to control, tame, hardworking and large size.
Head of PKGK Kuala Gandah, Che Ku Mohd Zamzuri Chik Wan Ab Rahman said throughout its time in the country, Lokimala served with the Elephant Welfare Unit and the Elephant Management Unit.
According to him, Lokimala then joined the PKGK team as a tame elephant involved in the operation to relocate wild elephants caught in the Peninsula.
"Lokimala was brought into this country along with three other elephants from India named Ganesh, Lal Bahadul and Paul Bahadul to help with the capture and transfer of wild elephants by PKGK.
"In addition to working in wild elephant transfer operations, Lokimala was also involved in show activities for tourists who come to PKGK," he said on Saturday.
According to Che Ku, the factors of the elephant's age and health level have been unsatisfactory for the past few years, forcing his party to take the decision to rest Lokimala in 2007.
He added that a member of staff was assigned to take full care of the elephant for feeding, drinking, treatment and cleaning
"Lokimala's health level deteriorated on Thursday until she could not stand up and her breathing became slower, then died at about 10.54am on Friday and was buried in the PKGK area on the same day after the post-mortem.
"Lokimala's 86-year-old age is the same as the age of an elephant named 'Lin Wang' who was placed in the Taipei Zoo in 2003 and recorded a Guinness World Record," he said. There are 26 friendly elephants at the center.
For the staff member assigned to look after Lokimala, M Shujaei Aziz, 46, he is saddened by the loss of the elephant and has many memories with the animal.
Assigned to take care of Lokimala since more than a year ago, he described the female elephant as easy to manage and he just needs to provide food three times a day which included fruits, banana tree root and several types of grass.
"The age factor causes all types of food to be prepared as soft types to facilitate Lokimala's digestion.
"The memories of taking care of Lokimala cannot be forgotten, PKGK Lanchang staff are also saddened by the loss of Lokimala who was loyal, pampered and easy to control when on duty," he said again.
Lokimala was brought into Malaysia at the age of 37, is the oldest elephant in PKGK and was involved in operations including in Merbau Berdarah, Selangor and Operation Tasik Kenyir.
