Antara 20 Apr 10;
Bengkalis, Riau Province (ANTARA News) - A herd of elephants has scared residents of Petani village, Mandau sub district, Bengkalis District, Riau Province.
Almost every night, tens of elephants encroached on residential areas and damage crops in hundreds of hectares of plantation as the animals still considered the village within their home range, Petani Village Head Rianto, said here, Tuesday.
"As the consequence, until now, the local people feel still being terrorized by the herd of the elephant, which could attack any time," Rianto said.
Most of the local villagers chose to reduce their activities in their oil palm plantations where the elephants often encroached.
"I ask the government to help free us from the elephants` threat, as there are many victims of elephants` amok every year," he said.
Head of Riau`s Natural Resources Conservation Agency Trisnu Danisworo earlier promised to mobilize his personnel in prone areas to prevent conflict between elephants and human beings.
The Sumatran elephant, the smallest of the Asian elephants, is facing serious pressures arising from illegal logging and associated habitat loss and fragmentation in Indonesia.
The island`s elephant population has come under increasing threat from rapid forest conversion to plantations.
As forests shrink, elephants are increasingly closer to fields and cultivated land, generating conflict with humans that often result in the death of the elephants by poisoning or capture, as well as economic losses to humans.
The population of the Sumatran elephants is about 2,440 to 3,350 individuals. The Sumatran elephant, the smallest of the Asian elephants, is facing serious pressures arising from illegal logging and associated habitat loss and fragmentation in Indonesia.
In the meantime, according to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in the January-March 2010 period four Sumatera elephants (elephas maximus sumatranus) were dead in Riau causing the further dwindling of their population.
From 2006 to March 2010 a total of 48 Sumatera elephants were found dead, with many of them only their bones remained. (f001/HAJM)
