Massive op to drive elephants
Published on: Sunday, May 17, 2020
By: Efa Rizan
Some of the crops that have been destroyed or eaten by the elephants.
LAHAD DATU: Efforts are underway to drive a herd of between 60 and 100 elephants that encroached into Felda settlers’ land in Anjung Teduh, Felda Sahabat, Tungku, near here, into Tabin Forest Reserve.Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) officer, Silvester Saimin, said the task would be carried out by eight SWD staff and assisted by settlers from Felda Sahabat.
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“There is a massive operation in Felda Sahabat today (Saturday) to guide the elephants back to the Tabin Wildlife Reserve.
“We will use multi-bank, tractors and sound recording to attract attention of those elephants and to drive them into the forest reserve located about 10km away,” he said.
He said the elephants were believed to be looking for food when they encroached into the settlers’ land and has caused concern.
It is understood that the elephants eat the crops and love to scratch their backs on the pillars of the houses.
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Meanwhile, SWD Director Augustine Tuuga said herds of elephants had encroached into the area often this year.
He said the department received a report from the Felda management about the encroachment on Thursday.
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“We have a group of wildlife rangers trying to move them out of the area using, among other things, scare tactics such as firing shots in the air and detonating explosives in permitted areas,” he said.
He also said it would be quite difficult as the herd was huge and many of the elephants might have been used to hearing loud shots and explosions.
“It could be that several herds coincidentally went into the area to search for food at the same time,” Tuuga said.
"Many of the areas are out of communication range," he said.
According to Tuuga, there had been no reports of injuries so far, but they had to move fast and were hoping that the elephants would travel out of the land soon.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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