Wild elephants destroy house during rampage

KUALA TERENGGANU - A group of 10 wild elephants went on the rampage at two villages here, destroying a house and uprooting scores of banana trees in a plantation.

Terengganu National Parks and Wildlife Department director Ahmad Shamsuddin Shaari said the elephants had found their way into the kampungs in groups of three or four.

He said that they probably came out of the forest in search of water because of the current dry spell in the state, Berita Harian Malaysia reported.

The group of elephants had destroyed thousands of banana trees and other fruit trees such as durian, chempedak, and nangka (jackfruit).

The animals had also broken the wall of one of the houses in Kampung Cheba and destroyed a shed in Kampung Padang Sengeng.

Some of the villagers had tried to drive the elephants back into the nearby forest but they came back at night to continue the destruction of people's property.

The thick forest nearby is made up of local government forest reserves. A group of 20 to 30 elephants have made the forest area a place for them to look for food.

Four years ago an elephant ran wild and killed a villager. Another villager was killed in a sugar cane plantation.

As a result the villagers hope that the National Parks and Wildlife Protection Department will act immediately and move the elephants to a suitable forest area where they will not harm anyone.

According to Mr Abdul Wahab Hussain, 35, the residents do not wish to kill the elephants as they do not want the animals to become extinct.

'We hope that the department will take immediate action so that the elephants will remain in the forest,' he said.