Villagers In Kedah Shook By Wild Elephants, How Can We Co-Exist With These Gentle Giants?

BALING: Over 900 villagers residing at Kampung Tanjung Pari, Mukim Siong endured a moment of anxiety yesterday (Oct 24), when a herd of elephants were found roaming in the village and subsequently destroying their crops.

The Tanjung Pari Village Development and Security Committee (JKKK) Chairman Taib Man shared with Berita Harian that the villagers refrained from going to the farm as they fear of crossing paths with the wild elephants that are often wondering through the night.

He went on to elaborate that the gentle giants are gradually becoming more daring as they have been incidences where they roam to close to the villagers’ home and destroying their crops such as bananas, rubber trees, jackfruits, sugarcane and coconut.

“Most of the population earn their livelihood as farmers and their fear for wild elephants have cut them off from their source of sustenance,” the chairman lamented.

“We’ve informed the incident to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN) in hopes that they will chase the elephants away aside from installing electric fence at elephant routes.”

Meanwhile a 53-year-old resident, Asri Yaacob, said that the elephants move in a huge herd to invade and destroy the villagers’ crops.

“Residents suffer losses, to a point some have forego farming out of fear for the worst,” he conveyed to the Malay daily.

The Kedah PERHILITAN Director Inche Ali @ Muhammad Ali Che Aman stated that his department will take immediate action in the event they receive a report as a means to ensure the public’s safety.

“The elephants will be chased away as a means to avoid any more property loses as well as to put an end to anything that threatens the villagers’ safety,” he said.

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LED lights being used to prevent elephants destroying crops

After digging trenches and putting up solar-powered electric fences, the state Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) has introduced an unique solution to keep elephants from encroaching human settlements.

LED lights are being utilised to prevent rampaging elephants from destroying farmer's crops. The method which was introduced in Kuala Medang in Lipis several months ago has shown promising results.

State Perhilitan director Ahmad Azhar Mohammad said the solar-powered LED (light-emitting diodes) bulbs had resulted in a 90 per cent drop in elephant encroachment into agricultural land or villages during the night.

"The technique was first used in Pahang and so far 30 units have been installed. The method will be expanded to other conflict areas and we are looking into further improving the technique.

"Sadly, some irresponsible individuals have been removing the LED lights and this is a setback to the department's efforts to prevent the mammals from destroying farms and fruits trees. I hope villagers will cooperate with Perhilitan to tackle the problems," he said today.

The LED bulbs are tied to wooden poles so that elephants can see them from a distance.

It was learnt that elephants keep away from getting close to flashing lights instead of fixed or powerful lights.

Each LED unit has a built-in solar charger thus making the lights maintenance free, low cost and can be setup with minimum support.

It was learnt that the LED method, which was widely used in farms in India, was still in the early stages of its implementation in Pahang and farmers were keen to learn about the method.

Perhilitan had previously deployed various efforts to minimise the elephant threats including building solar-powered fences which deliver jolts of up to 12 kilovolts, digging trenches, and carrying out the capture and relocate programme.

On a separate matter, Ahmad Azhar said the herd of elephants spotted walking in an oil palm plantation in Kota Gelanggi, Jerantut several days ago was believed to have been separated into two groups.

"The herd was walking along their usual track towards its habitat but upon noticing a group of people watching them from a bridge, two of the elephants separated and were believed to have returned towards the village.

"Although people were standing far away it makes our job to chase the animals back to their habitat more difficult and might now require more time," he said, referring to the incident on Aug 29 where several motorists stopped their vehicles upon spotting the elephants walking below the bridge.

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Malaysia: Electric fence to keep elephants away in the works

An electric fence will be built in Gua Musang to reduce the risk of conflict with elephants as their habitat continues to shrink because of deforestation activities.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said he was seeking RM200,000 from the Finance Ministry for the fence.

“Building it is one of the mitigation measures to reduce conflict in areas populated by humans, while at the same time conserving the wild elephant population in its original habitat.

“Electric fencing is a long-term solution to the problem of wild elephants raiding human settlements for food,” Dr Wan Junaidi said in a statement after a recent incident at SK Seri Permai in Pos Pasik, Gua Musang.

Several wild elephants damaged fencing, doors and windows when they fed on bananas from the plants behind the teachers’ quarters.

Fortunately, the incident occurred on June 30, when the teachers and students were away during the Hari Raya break.

The school authorities reported the incident to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) on July 2.

The elephants also left behind piles of dung.

“The elephant incident in Gua Musang was the first in five years,” Dr Wan Junaidi said.

“Based on Perhilitan’s findings, the damage was caused by three elephants from the Bertam elephant herd.”

It is learnt that this herd is made up of about 20 elephants.

The damage caused was estimated at RM7,000.

“I have directed the ministry, through Perhilitan, to implement short and long-term mitigation plans to address conflict involving elephants,” Dr Wan Junaidi said, adding that short-term measures include shooting to scare away the elephants.

He also appealed to members of the public not to take matters into their own hands during conflict situations with wild animals.

“I appeal to all the stakeholders to give full co-operation to ensure sustainable management of the wild elephant population in the country,” he said.

Pos Pasik village chief Hashim Harun said the elephants raided the banana plantation at 4am and destroyed about 100 plants.

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