We’ll nab rogue elephant soon, says wildlife department
Ruben Sario The Star 25 Aug 10;
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah wildlife department, which has been trekking two rampaging elephants over the past two weeks in the Felda Umas Umas area, is confident it will corner them by this weekend.
The two adult male elephants have damaged a lot of crops and caused fear among the 700 families there.
Land settlers at Umas Umas said they had been worried for their safety since the appearance of the elephants sometime in mid-August.
Settler Madri Jamin, 34, said the elephants first destroyed ornamental plants at the entrance of the settlement before moving in to damage their crops.
“Since the elephants appeared, we have been afraid of stepping out of our houses after dark,” he said.
The settlers recalled an incident last year when some elephants almost destroyed a workers’ quarters.
Department director Laurentius Ambu said the elephants had likely wandered off from the patches of forests in Tingkayu into the Umas Umas land development scheme.
“The elephants have found themselves in a limited habitat,” he said, adding it was a classic case of human-elephant conflict.
Laurentius said the department has to spend about two days to make repairs to its specially-equipped lorry in Kota Kinabalu before despatching it to Tawau to transport the elephants.
Once tranquilised, the elephants would be sent to either the Tabin wildlife reserve or the Ulu Segama forest reserve in nearby Lahad Datu, he said.
