ELEPHANT HERD OUT FOR FRUIT TREES
Owners counting losses as 10ha of orchards are destroyed
ORCHARD owners in Kampung Pelong are living in fear of a herd of 14 rogue elephants sighted destroying their fruit trees since Monday.
They fear that the herd would
return to ravage the remaining crops, including banana trees, jackfruit trees and oil palm.
So far, about 10 hectares of orchards have been destroyed overnight and the owners are counting their losses which could be more unless the elephants are caught and relocated in the National Park within Tasik Kenyir soon.
Abdul Rahman Abu Bakar, 67, whose jackfruit trees grown on a 0.8ha plot, was the worst affected by the wild elephants.
“Orchards are destroyed by the elephants every year in the group farming area in the village. The animals attack late at night until dawn when villagers are asleep. I was hoping to sell the jackfruits soon and earn some money but the destruction of the trees in my orchard may require replanting,” he said when contacted.
Abdul Rahman added that orchards owned by five more villagers were also partly destroyed, including a banana orchard and an oil palm smallholdings.
“Last year, a herd of elephants destroyed a matag coconut smallholdings and a duku orchard,” said Abdul Rahman, who added that the affected orchards might take a few years to recover.
Mohamad Saad, 65, said the elephants destroyed his threeyear-old oil palm smallholdings and this was not the first time the elephants attacked the trees in his plot of land.
“Last year they managed to uproot some trees but the timely arrival of the Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) rangers prevented serious damage. But this year, there was no early warning. Otherwise, we would have burnt something to ward off the encroachment,” he added.
Mohamad said Perhilitan had been informed about the menace and would be surveying the area to prevent the herd from returning to other orchards in the area.