Wild elephants give sleepless nights to villagers

KUALA KRAI: On May 26, a herd of 20 wild elephants reportedly wreaked havoc at Kampung Tok Uban and Kampung Catan in Lata Rek here, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

The 147 families from the villages are living in fear as sightings of wild elephants are still being reported.

Checks by Bernama at Kampung Tok Uban found crops have been destroyed, fences were damaged as well as footprints and faeces left by the mammals.

According to Mohd Ridzuman Hanapi, 37, a villager at Kampung Tok Uban, their oil palm, coconut and banana crops were destroyed and eaten by the wandering wild animals.

"Yesterday (June 1) we saw three elephants encroaching our village three times between 7 pm and 11 pm.

"We chased the elephants so that they will not attack people and destroy the surrounding crops," he told Bernama here today.

Mohd Ridzuman said since the wild elephants wandered into their village last Thursday, the villagers have set up neighbourhood watch especially at night to protect the villagers and their crops from being destroyed by the wild animals.

"Between 10 and 15 volunteers will patrol the village from 10 pm until 3 am every night for the safety of all villagers," he said, adding wild elephants have been detected encroaching the village since 2018.

Meanwhile, Mastura Mohd Shamsuddin, 35, a rubber tapper said she had to delay the time for her to start working on her plantation from 7 am before the incident to 8 am for fear of coming into contact with the wild elephants.

She said she had seen several elephants loitering close to her rubber plantation recently, adding that the distance between her house and the plantation was four kilometres.

Meanwhile, Mohd Rosmizi Rosli, 34, said he hoped that the relevant agencies could place their personnel in the village to monitor the surrounding areas and take further action.

"We have no expertise in wildlife, forestry, and the like, so we hope that the experts can join us in maintaining the peace and safety of the villagers," he added.

It was reported that the Kelantan Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) director Mohamad Hafid Rohani said they had mounted an operation to control and drive off the wild elephants detected in the village.

He said several factors caused these elephants to loiter around village areas such as the reduction of their natural habitat and the ease of locating food in village areas as residents have cultivated sugar cane, cucumbers and bananas, as well as overgrown orchards, among others.

"Perhilitan has advised residents to light bonfires (to ward off these elephants) surrounding their respective dwellings and along the elephant path to their villages and plantations," he added.

-- BERNAMA