Wildlife Dept chases 25 elephants back into jungle

LAHAD DATU, June 2 — The Lahad Datu District Wildlife Department is conducting an operation to drive 25 elephants to their original habitat in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve area after they were seen wandering around Kg Teburi and Kampung Sri Darun near here.

Its officer, Silvester Saimin, said 16 personnel were involved in the operation which was carried out during the day while they stood guard at night, after receiving complaints from the villagers, since May 21.

“We scare off the elephants by making a lot of noise,” he said when contacted here, today.

Silvester said a check at both villages found that the wild elephants had damaged the villagers’ crops, but did not disturb the residents.

The 25 elephants from the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, which bordered the villages, had encroached into the Bagahak 1 plantation but intruded into the human settlements after they were disturbed by activities to fell old oil palm trees in the plantation for replanting, he added. — Bernama


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Call to set up elephant-friendly zone to resolve human-elephant conflict in Sabah

TELUPID: Establishing an elephant-friendly zone with easy access for Bornean pygmy elephants to look for food can help tackle the problem of these animals intruding into settlements. …Maybe (we) need to establish an elephant-friendly zone here where there is easy access (for the wildlife) to get food such as bananas and grass, among others,” he said. Establishing an elephant-friendly zone with easy access for Bornean pygmy elephants to look for food can help tackle the problem of these animals intruding into settlements. Forever Sabah project coordinator Claudia Lasimbang also shared a similar view about setting up an elephant-friendly zone, adding such projects were aimed at identifying suitable locations for wild elephants to roam. “The creation of an elephant zone will encourage the rehabilitation of selected areas with food sources and elephant safety as priority,” she said.


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Elephant poachers arrested in Malaysia

Four heavily armed poachers who targeted wild elephants in Malaysia have been caught, officials said Tuesday, the second such arrest in less than two years.

Wildlife officials said the gang caught near the town of Gerik in the northern Malaysian state of Perak was found with deer antlers and suspected tiger bones.

A joint police and wildlife department investigation also led the agents to find an elephant shot dead by the poachers in a nearby forest with its tusks ripped out.

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A Gang of Ivory Poachers is Nabbed in Gerik

Operation Gading in Gerik took three days and required 40 officers, but success did beckon at the end of it. Under arrest are four professional hunters who may have killed as many as 20 wild elephants for their tusks in Malaysia over the past decade.

The joint team from the Royal Malaysian Police and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) nabbed the four local men, aged between 40 and 50, during a well-coordinated operation. The officials discovered the men were in possession of several high-powered firearms, 255 bullets, 13 snares and various animal remains like deer antlers and tiger bones.

“Among items seized were RM10,500 in cash believed to be from the sales of elephant ivory; four firearms including a .458 rifle, two homemade shotguns and a Colt M15 as well as five homemade gun barrels,” Zulkifli Abdullah, director of the Internal Security and Public Order Department, was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

“This is a notorious gang of poachers that the Wildlife Department has been tracking since 2009. We believe the tusks from the elephant have been sold by the group to foreign buyers,” Zulkifli added. “We hope this serves as a lesson to other groups to stop this kind of illegal activity and we will continue to work with Perhilitan to enforce the law.”

The four suspects are facing several charges for illegally possessing firearms while they are also being investigated for breaking the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 by possessing snares and wildlife parts.

“Forests in northern Peninsular Malaysia are often a target of poachers because they are rich in iconic endangered species including tiger, elephant and bear,” the anti-wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC explains. “On 10th February 2017, a gang of seven men who were part of an elephant poaching gang were arrested with explosives, guns and parts of tusks in the state of Kelantan, which is also located in northern Peninsular Malaysia. Follow-up raids uncovered two elephant tusks, dried elephant meat and other wildlife parts.”

Over the past years several wild elephants are known to have been killed, either gunned down or poisoned, around Malaysia. In several cases the carcasses of the pachyderms were discovered without their tusks, indicating that poachers had been targeting the animals for their ivory. In fact, members of the team that caught the four poachers also found the remains of a male Asian Elephant in nearby Piah Forest. The elephant had died from gunshot wounds to the head and had its tusks sawn off.


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Animal activists: Bad idea to relocate wild elephant that attacked lorry driver

Animal activists are not keen on the idea of tracking down and relocating a wild elephant that attacked a lorry driver last week as suggested by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

Former Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) president Prof Maketab Mohamed said relocating the elephant will not solve any problems.

“This idea is absurd. How will relocating the elephant solve any problem? On top of that, how about other elephants in the area? Does the ministry plan to relocate all of them?” he asked. 

Speaking to Malay Mail, Maketab said the authorities should instead investigate why the elephant attacked the lorry driver.

“There is a possibility that the victim had tried to take photos of the mammal and the flash from the mobile phone could have triggered the attack,” he said.

On Feb 2, a 69-year-old lorry driver suffered broken bones and serious injuries to his neck after he was attacked by a wild elephant near Gerik.

M. Paramanazan, from Sungai Siput Utara, was stomped by the elephant along KM19 of the East-West Highway at 4.30pm after he stopped his lorry to look at the wild beast.

After the incident, Wan Junaidi was reported as saying that the ministry would track down and relocate the elephant in question.

He said the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) would move the elephant to the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary (National Elephant Conservation Centre).

Maketab said before making major decision, the ministry should advise motorists travelling along the Gerik to Jeli Highway to not provoke the animals if they ever come across it.

“Even honking at the elephants, can be a dangerous move as the noise might irritate them,” he said.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia field officer Meor Razak Meor Abdul Rahman said it would be an uphill task for Perhilitan to track down the elephant as its roaming grounds covered Temenggor to Royal Belum.

 “Even if you find the herd, how would you determine which elephant actually trampled the lorry driver?” he asked.

 Agreeing with Maketab that the cause of the attack should be determined first, Meor Razak said the elephant would not have attacked the victim without being provoked first.

He also suggested that Perhilitan provide more information to motorists instead of just putting up animal crossing signboards.

“Presently, the signboards only warn motorists of passing elephants in the area. There should be a do’s and dont’s if one encounters a herd of elephants,” he added.

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Malaysian elephant roams into Yala, kills rubber tapper

A rubber tapper in Yala, age 75, was killed early Tuesday by a wild elephant that had ventured across the border from Malaysia.

Chaiwat In-on, assistant chief of Bannang Sata, was alerted at 7.30am of the death of Sao Somyos, a resident of Moo 5 village in Tambon Tham Thalu.

The man’s severely damaged body was lying near his hut on the rubber plantation, surrounded by elephant footprints.

Sansern Thep-osoth, chief of Bang Lang National Park, said the animal was a wild elephant that had crossed through the border forest from Malaysia.

Sansern said park officials had already driven it back once, but it was lured by crops on the Thai side.

A wild elephant killed another villager in Yala’s Betong district several months ago, he noted.

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Another Pygmy Elephant dies from Gunshot Wounds in Sabah

Bornean pygmy elephants are facing existential threats in Sabah and so the death of any more wild elephants in the state is bad news. Yet just over the past few months several wild elephants have been shot dead by poachers or irate plantation workers.

Now another wild elephant is dead. The bull elephant, which was around six years old, had been shot and ended up succumbing to his injuries before staff at the Borneo Wildlife Sanctuary in Kinabatangan, where he was taken for treatment, could save him.

“During the examination, a bullet slug was found lodged in its injured front left leg,” explained Augustine Tuuga, director of the Sabah Wildlife Department. “There were also sign of gunshots on the body but they did not penetrate or cause any internal organ injury.”

The pachyderm also suffered an injury to his tongue, likely from a gunshot. “While undergoing medical examination and treatment, its tongue was found to have serious wound, believed to have been caused by a gunshot,” the director said. “The wound on the tongue made the elephant unable to eat or drink.”

The department’s rescue unit captured the elephant on November 24 at a plantation in Ladang Pertama after he had been reported to be acting aggressively towards locals in the area. He was showing signs of an injury on his left front leg. After tracking the wild elephant for some time, officials managed to capture him and took him to the wildlife sanctuary for treatment. But by then it was too late for the animal.

It remains unknown who shot the elephant, but the likelihood is that it was an irate plantation worker. “We will investigate the case further as it involves the death of a totally protected species,” Tuuga said. The elephant’s death is especially egregious as it comes shortly after another bull elephant was found dead with three gunshot wounds at a large plantation in Tawau, where another male elephant was also killed last month, bringing the tally of dead elephants, all shot dead, to three within the space of just a few weeks.

And so it goes: plantations have robbed wild elephants in the area of their natural habitats, severely reducing their roaming grounds. As a result, many of them can’t help but wander onto plantations, where they then encounter locals who look askance at the pachyderms feeding on crops. Some of these locals take matters into their own hands and shot the animals.

“When elephants come into conflict with people it is a battle in which the gentle animals are destined to lose,” observes SM Mohd Idris, president of the conservationist group Sahabat Alam Malaysia. “Those responsible for land clearance are highly aware of the increased risks of elephants coming into conflict with people and the subsequent fatalities that may arise,” he adds. “Many plantation owners and farmers now see elephants as enemies, yet it is humans, not the pachyderms, who are responsible for this situation.”

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Wild Elephants ‘can Inflict Harm on Plantations.’ So What to Do?

Millions of ringgit in losses over an area of 30 hectares. That’s how much damage a herd of feeding elephants can inflict on a plantation, according to the Sabah Wildlife Department. In just a single night elephants can destroy six hectares of crops, the department’s head Augustine Tuuga explained.

“Elephant raids are a major problem for plantations in areas where elephants are found,” the director was quoted as saying by Free Malaysia Today. “These herds damage oil palm trees and eat the shoots, causing the companies to incur big losses.” He cited the case of Sabah Softwood Bhd, which lost property estimated to be worth RM3 million to elephants.

None of this is in any doubt. Even a single elephant, which fully grown can weigh 3 tons and consume as much as 200kg of food in a single day, can decimate crops by feeding on much of them, uprooting trees and trampling on a lot of cultivated plants. Several elephants can in turn create havoc. To make matters worse, elephants’ dietary preferences expose them to increased risks of coming into conflict with humans because they may fancy a bite or two of certain cultivated crops.

Yet we have to remember that elephants do not do this out of malice. They simply need to feed. And the only reason why they often barge into cultivated areas like plantations is that they have lost much of their natural feeding grounds in the wild. “The rapid shrinkage of forest cover and large-scale encroachment on elephant corridors are the main factors behind this escalating problem,” explains Mohamed Idris, president of the conservationist group Sahabat Alam Malaysia. “The last decade has seen appalling destruction of forests, something that is having direct effects on wild elephant populations.”

Farmers destroy the pachyderms’ habitats, and then they are angered when elephants show up in their plantations and chew up crops. Sadly, some farmers do not leave it at that and seek to take revenge by shooting or poisoning wild elephants. Such revenge attacks have been going on sporadically for years, in addition to the poaching of wild elephants for their tusks and other body parts. Just a few week ago two pygmy elephants were found dead in Sabah. Their remains were discovered a few days apart in Tawau and Sandakan. The tusks of one had been sawn off.

Sad, that. We need to be more tolerant of wild animals. If they cause harm, our response should not be to lash out in revenge but rather to cultivate forbearance. We need to adopt a live-and-let-live attitude. To foster such attitudes, the government can do its part by compensating farmers for their losses. That way, they will be far less inclined to seek revenge against foraging elephants.

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SNP inhabitant elephants damage two houses in Kanchanpur

A herd of wild elephants has damaged two houses in Beldandi Rural Municipality-1 of Kanchanpur district on Thursday night.

The wild elephants inhabiting the Shuklaphanta National Park entered the settlement and damaged houses belonging to Gagan Singh Mahar and Man Bahadur Okheda. Moreover, the pachyderms ate all food grains stored in the houses.

Subsequently, the owners of the damaged houses are compelled to take shelter at neighbour’s home.

Meanwhile, the neighbours have taken the initiative to collect food grains and financial support as the financial condition of both families is very poor.

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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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Malaysia: Two more pygmy elephants found dead without tusks

KOTA KINABALU: Another two Borneo pygmy elephants were found dead without their tusks in eastern Sabah.

One of the carcasses of the elephants was located in a plantation near the Dumpas area on Sept 10 while the other was found floating along the Kinabatangan river close to the Danau Girang Field Research Centre a few days ago.

Sources said it was difficult to pinpoint the area where the second bull was killed before the carcass was dumped into the river.

Sabah has been faced with the threat of wildlife poaching, especially of its endangered elephants which numbers around 2,000 in forests in eastern Sabah.

Six pygmy elephants, including the unique sabre tusk jumbo, have been reported killed over the last six months.

The Sabah Wildlife Department said they have no new leads or suspects in both the new cases.

Nevertheless, investigations are ongoing to identify the perpetrators.

The department's director, Augustine Tuuga, said the death of the elephant in Dumpas revealed no external injuries.

He said that they have taken blood samples to establish the cause of death while the second elephant might be a victim of poaching.

Wildlife officials were also probing the case of a green turtle found butchered on the shores of Pulau Bum Bum in Semporna which was highlighted in a Facebook posting on Wednesday.

At least nine dead turtles were seen in the photo uploaded on Facebook.

Tuuga said they were verifying the reports and carrying an investigation into the deaths.

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Killing of wildlife goes on in Sabah

The slaughter of Sabah’s wildlife continued this month with little signs of slowing down as two critically-endangered Bornean pygmy elephants were killed for tusks and at least nine endangered green turtles were found butchered on the east coast.

The killings sent fresh shockwaves through the conservationist community, which appealed to the public to help put a stop to this.

A dead bull elephant was found floating down the Kinabatangan river close to the Danau Girang Research Centre (DGRC) on Monday, while another was found dead at a plantation in the Dumpas area of Kalabakan on Sept 10.

“This cannot go unpunished. We need to bring these criminals to court,” conservationist Dr Benoit Goossens said.


Dr Goossens, the director of the Kinabatangan-based DGRC, said that with fewer than 2,000 elephants in Sabah, the population would be in jeopardy if the killing of mature bulls goes on.

“Elephants are already threatened by habitat loss and conflict with humans. If you add poaching, the species will not survive. We must get rid of the poachers and traders,” he said.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said the tusks may be bound for Indonesia, where they are used as dowry in some communities.

On the turtles found on Pulau Bum Bum in Semporna district, he said reports indicated that all nine were stripped of their flesh and the lower shell, called the plastron.

He said the turtle killings may have been committed by members of the same group detained by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) early this year.

Augustine said the MMEA detained a boat from southern Philippines, with four men on board, bound for Semporna loaded with turtle flesh and plastron. The department prosecuted the four men and they were jailed two years and fined RM100,000 each.

Augustine said the wildlife authorities needed the help of villagers and other agencies in protecting endangered animals.

“The killings have to stop but we cannot do it alone,” he said.

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No action against driver of bus which rammed into elephant

Police and the the Wildlife Department will not press charges against the driver of a bus which rammed into a 10-year-old male elephant, which died at Km60 Grik-Jeli road last month.
Grik district police chief Supt Ismail Che Isa said the accident was unintentional and there was no case to pursue.

“Elephants and other wild animals roam freely in the area and such incidents occur,” he added.
Perak Wildlife and National Parks principal assistant director Wan Shaharuddin Wan Noordin said: “There are no criminal elements, and the weather at the time of the incident has to be taken into account.

“Based on the driver’s statement, thick fog had limited the vision about one to five metres.
“The driver could not see the elephant when it crossed the road due to the blurred vision,” he told theSun today.

Wan Shaharuddin said post mortem report by a veterinarian revealed the animal died due to respiratory failure, blood loss, fluid accumulation in the lungs and a broken leg.
As for precautionary measures, he said a total of 10 signboards of wild animals crossing including elephants have been erected along the road.

“Apart from the warning signs the signboard also provide guidelines incase motorists run into animals.

“It is written in Bahasa Malaysia for all passing motorists to understand and take the necessary precautions to avoid any untoward incidents,” he added.

Wan Shaharuddin advised motorists to avoid using the road during the night and rain due to poor vision.

According to him, wild animals would often sit on the road to warm their bodies in the night or after rain.

The bus was travelling to Betong, Thailand from Terengganu with 30 passengers onboard when the accident occurred at 5.30am on Aug 24.

The driver and the passengers escaped unhurt.

The impact of the crash caused the a cracked windscreen and damages to the front portion of the bus.

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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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Elephant killed by tour bus in Malaysia

A 10-year-old elephant was killed on Wednesday morning after it was hit by a tour bus along the Gerik-Jeli Highway, according to wildlife activist group Management & Ecology of Malaysian Elephants, reports Channel News Asia. In a Facebook post, MEME shared police photos that showed the injured elephant on the side of the road. The animal was seen to have sustained head and body injuries.

No one on the bus, which sustained a large crack on its windscreen, was reportedly hurt. The Malay Mail cited Gerik police deputy Chief Mohd Sohaimi Ishak as saying that the bus was driving down a slope when the elephant suddenly ran across its path.

Perak Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) director Loo Kean Seong also said that the forested area where the incident happened is also a habitat for elephants, said the The Star.

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LED light thieves to blame for jumbo incursions

THE woes faced by three Jerantut villages over a rampaging herd of elephants were due to the theft of LED lights designed to keep the jumbos away, Kosmo! reported the Pahang Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) as saying.

State Perhilitan director Ahmad Azhar Mohammad said irresponsible parties had stolen 30 solar-po­wered LED (light-emitting diodes) floodlights from the entry point to the Lepar Forest Reserve.

These lights were part of an un­­con­­ventional new strategy to stop a herd of 30 wandering elephants from encroaching into human settlements at Kampung Pulau Tawar, Kampung Batu Leja and Kampung Bukit Nikmat.

It was previously reported that the hungry elephants ate the villa­ges’ food crops.

Ahmad Azhar said the herd had been led across Sungai Batu back to the forest, but ended up returning to the villages.

He added that attempts to usher the elephants away from the human settlements were also hampered by the people who came to watch the effort.

> Singer-actress Marsha Milan felt awkward about filming her la­test television film, Terobek Raya, without a script, reported Sinar Harian.

Without the script, the television-film was particularly challenging for the actress who had taken a year away from the industry.

“I was invited by (actress) Ozlynn to take part in the film and I assumed it was just an ordinary story,” said the 31-year-old.

“But when I got to the set, I was surprised by the ‘script’ that wasn’t really a script.

“At first I thought they were setting me up, but I understood after they explained the situation. The film had no script as it was meant to be spontaneous.”

Marsha admitted that she was initially a bit worried, but felt it turned out okay.


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Residents worry over encroachment of wild elephants at school

The appearance of few wild elephants at a school in Bandar Penawar here has caused panic to the people as the uninvited guests has damaged some of the school’s property here in Kota Tinggi.
KOTA TINGGI: Several wild elephants that entered school grounds in Bandar Penawar here are causing panic among residents.

They are urging the Johor Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) to come up with long-term solutions to prevent the elephants from encroaching their settlements.

The pictures of the wild elephants, which had damaged the school’s property, went viral on Facebook since Sept 3.

It had received over 1,000 likes and more than 900 shares with netizens expressing their concern.
Zone Eight residents representative committee chairman Abdul Wahab Manan said on Tuesday that the herd had destroyed the landscaping at the school.

“Fortunately, no one was injured as the school was closed for the long break. This is the first time that wild elephants have encroached into settlements,” he said.

Abdul Wahab hoped Perhilitan and the Pengerang local council will work together to ensure that wild elephants do not trespass again.

Johor Perhilitan director Jamalun Nasir said the department would investigate the incident.
He believed the wild elephants, which came from the Panti forests and Felda settlement areas in the Kota Tinggi district, had strayed into the settlements.

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10-year-old elephant killed by tour bus in Malaysia

A 10-year-old elephant was killed on Wednesday (Aug 23) morning after it was hit by a tour bus along the Gerik-Jeli Highway, according to wildlife activist group Management & Ecology of Malaysian Elephants (MEME).

In a Facebook post, MEME shared police photos that showed the injured elephant on the side of the road. The animal was seen to have sustained head and body injuries.

No one on the bus, which sustained a large crack on its windscreen, was reportedly hurt. The Malay Mail cited Gerik police deputy chief Mohd Sohaimi Ishak as saying that the bus was driving down a slope when the elephant suddenly ran across its path.

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Digital devices to track elephants, news for World Elephant Day

Digital trackers are being used to follow the movement of elephants, as part of conservation projects and to protect elephants from poachers. This digital innovation is timely for World Elephant Day.

Tracking the spatial ecology of elephants is proving to be an effective approach, National Geographic reports, to develop new solutions for maintaining and protecting elephant populations and their environment. An example is with the use of radio collars.

Radio equipped technology allows for the near-instantaneous observation of the GPS location of an elephant. Data are transmitted via satellite and the signals are interpreted by sophisticated software algorithms which monitor incoming elephant movement datastreams. Information, such as alerting that elephants that become unnaturally immobile, allows responses by those engaged in elephant conservation to be quicker. This could lead, for instance, to catching poachers.

Such technology has been used in parts of Africa for the past two or three years, and the use is expanding. Recently it was reported that latest GPS and satellite communication technology developed by The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) and the Malaysian Department of Wildlife and National Parks was to be used to help follow Malaysian elephants.

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1,000 villagers in Pahang under siege by elephants

MORE than 1,000 residents at three villages in Jerantut, Pahang, have been living on the edge over the past week.

They face a risk of being attacked by a herd of 11 wild elephants, which have destroyed more than 50ha of their banana and oil palm smallholdings.

Pulau Tawar asssemblyman Dr Ahmad Shukri Ismail said the pachyderm attacks began last Friday, and continued the past week, forcing residents to seek assistance from the Pahang National Parks and Wildlife Department (Perhilitan).

“The animals also destroyed the plants and tried to approach the houses of villagers, prompting us to implement tight controls for the people’s safety.

“Among the affected villages are Kampung Kelola, Kampung Bukit Nikmat and Kampung Batu Leja,” he said yesterday after visiting the affected villagers whose property was destroyed during the incident.

While disclosing that the last time the area faced attacks from wild elephants was in 2003, Ahmad Shukri did not deny that this time, the attacks were the result of extensive forest exploration in nearby areas.

He said he would propose to the state government to create a protected area for elephants and other wildlife in an area measuring 12,140ha to preserve their habitat.

“We will hold a special meeting on August 22 at Perhilitan in Kuantan to discuss the matter,” he added.

Meanwhile, Pahang Perhilitan director Ahmad Azhar Mohammed said his department was devising a way to keep the animals in their habitat to ensure the safety of villagers.

“We believe these wild elephants are from the nearby forest reserve, searching for food, and we must take swift action to prevent the villages from becoming their new habitat,” he noted.

Among the methods used are firecrackers, blue LED lights and firing gunshots into the air to scare the herd from approaching the villages.

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