NST
Online
August 27, 2007
By T. N. Alagesh
Original
Article
Cek Mek (left) and Lokimala (right)
from the Kuala Gandah elephant sanctuary, and
their handlers escorting the male elephant out
of the jungle. —NST picture by Mohd Rafi Mamat
JERANTUT: Usually quiet Kampung
Baru was packed with hundreds of villagers and
curious on-lookers on Friday.
The centre of attention was a male elephant
that had been captured in the nearby jungle.
Twenty Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan)
officers were attempting to relocate him to the
Kenyir Lake forest in Terengganu, and found the
crowd a nuisance.
Some on-lookers even followed the officers into
the jungle for a closer look at the animal, despite
many warnings from the officers to keep their
distance.
The officers brought along female elephants
Cek Mek and Lokimala, from the Kuala Gandah elephant
sanctuary, to coax the male elephant to climb
into the back of the lorry without fuss.
The male had reportedly damaged villagers’ fruit
orchards. A team of seven officers tracked him
for five days before finding him a week ago.
He was immobilised with a tranquiliser dart
and chained to a tree. His captors watched over
him and fed him until it was time to bring him
out of the jungle.
It took nearly two hours to bring the elephant
to a waiting lorry as the path was slippery due
to rain a day earlier.
The mud and hilly terrain forced officers to
park their vehicles about 700 metres from the
elephant’s location.
State Perhilitan director Ady Ermanty Haniff
Mohamed Hanif said the elephant had been separated
from its herd in the Som Forest Reserve and was
left to wander alone.
"It entered the village to find food and
in the process damaged cultivated fruit trees."
He said nine villages in the area were vulnerable
to elephant encroachments.
"We will monitor the situation in the villages
to try and prevent harm from the elephants."
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