Humans on watch: Tourists being brought close to elephants on the banks of the Kinabatangan River in Sabah.

KOTA KINABALU: A special River Keeper Unit has been established in Sabah's Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (LKWS) to protect Borneo pygmy elephants and other wildlife.

The unit involving honorary wildlife wardens from the local communities will check on illegal activities such as encroachment in forest reserves as well as illegal logging and hunting along the river.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Datuk Dr Laurentius Ambu said the unit will complement the efforts of his department as their resources were insufficient to cover the whole state.

He said the River Keeper Unit would be headed by local community members Mohd Syafendy Yajit and Sudirman Sawang who have years of experience working with the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Programme under Hutan, a French-based NGO.

Hutan's scientific director Dr Marc Ancrenaz said the unit would patrol 260km of the river day and night within the LKWS.

The River Keeper Unit was established jointly by the Wildlife Department, Hutan and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) and is being funded by Elephant Family and the Kinabatangan-Corridor of Life Tourism Operators Association (KiTA).

The River Keeper Unit will be based at DGFC in Kinabatangan and will also monitor tourism along the river and prevent tourists from getting too close to the elephants.

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