Lost elephant back in Belum

Lost elephant back in Belum
New Straits Time September 13, 2006 JELI:

A lost juvenile elephant, which has been roaming the jungles and orchards near Kampung Lata Janggut near here for the past month, is back in familiar territory.

Captured by the state Wildlife rangers on Saturday, the pachyderm was taken on a two-and-a-half-hour journey to the Belum state park in Grik, Perak, where it was released yesterday. The operation started at 8am with two trained elephants, Cik Mek and Lokimala, guiding the young one out from near a stream, behind the village where it had been kept since its capture, to a timber camp 1km away. It was sedated and given antibiotics for an injured foot before being put on a lorry to the Jeli District Wildlife office where it was fed and washed.

Cik Mek and Lokimala, trained for such a task, were brought here by a 12-member team from the National Elephant Conservation Centre in Kuala Gandah, Pahang, on Monday. Department elephant unit head Nasharuddin Othman said Cik Mek was from the centre while Lokimala was based at the Malacca Zoo. He said the rogue elephant, believed to be 18 years old, had been feasting on fruits and damaging fruit trees belonging to villagers. "The elephant was released in Belum in the evening as it was much cooler and to prevent it from getting stressed."