The Star 24 Feb 11;
JELEBU: A 30-year-old male Asian elephant was captured after the elusive pachyderm was seen foraging for food in a village near here.
Villagers spotted the three-metre tall elephant in Kampung Gagu and reported it to National Parks and Wildlife Department (Perhilitan) officers on Sunday.
Village headman Mohd Saad Haron said the elephant had been destroying banana and coconut crops in the area for the past few years.
“It used to appear only at night. We would wake up to see the damaged crops,” he said.
Perhilitan’s elephant management unit head Nasharuddin Othman believed the elephant had broken away from its original group more than 10 years ago.
“Elephants usually travel along a corridor, but due to land development, the path may have been disrupted, causing it to become stranded,” he added.
“We have been monitoring the movements of these elephants over the years and this one is believed to be the last of its group.
“Sightings of this elephant had been previously reported but it was not easy for us to capture it due to the area’s hilly terrain,” he said, adding that the elephant would be relocated to Taman Negara.
The Asian elephant (elephas maximus), which has an estimated population of 1,200 in Peninsular Malaysia, can be found in the jungles of Johor, Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu, Perak and Kedah.
