New Straits Times 1 Sep 12;
JERANTUT: Fear is a sentiment shared by more than 500 Felda settlers of Sungai Tekam Utara, here, following the emergence of 10 wild elephants which stormed through their oil palm plantations recently.
They claimed that the animals had been roaming in their areas since January and destroyed more than 2,000 oil palm trees with losses amounting to RM300,000.
A settler, Mohamad Zin Jaafar, said the latest incident occurred three days ago when a herd of elephants destroyed about 50 newly replanted oil palm trees.
He said the animals ate leaves and uprooted new oil palm trees after destroying the old trees last month, leaving him with losses of more than RM120,000 since early this year.
Kampung Sungai Tekam Utara Village Development and Security Committee chairman Mohd Rashid Abas said they would meet with Wildlife and National Parks Department next week to find the best solution to the problem. Bernama
