Malaysia: Perhilitan to relocate wild elephants

The Star 13 Apr 12;

JERANTUT: Efforts are underway to trap and relocate several wild elephants which veered into an oil palm plantation in Felda Gelanggi Dua near here recently.

Pahang Wildlife Protection and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) director Khairiah Mohd Sharif said a team had been deployed to track down these pachyderms after receiving a complaint from several settlers.

“We have received information that a herd of wild elephants have trespassed into a plantation estate and destroyed crops.

“If there is a need, we would trap and relocate these elephants to another suitable location to prevent any untoward incident,” she said.

Khairiah said relocating these giant mammals was the best solution for both parties to ensure its survival in the natural habitat.

She said the exercise would cost the department RM45,000 for each elephant, in addition to allowances for its personnel.

“As such, relocation is the last resort as it is time consuming and a tedious process,” she said.

Last week, several settlers claimed they suffered losses of some RM5,000 when a herd of wild elephants trespassed into their plantation and ate some of its crops.

They said the elephants were believed to have veered from Berkelah forest reserve, bordering the settlement.

An estimated 1,200 wild elephants are said to roam the forests in the peninsular while between 400 and 500 of them have been relocated to Taman Negara, Rompin and Belum forest reserve.