Wild Elephants Rampaged / Gajah Liar Menceroboh

Gajah Liar Serang FELDA Sungai Tekam Utara

JERANTUT PAHANG 14 Okt, 2009
Hampir 500 keluarga peneroka di tanah rancangan Felda Sungai Tekam Utara di sini bimbang berikutan kemunculan tiga ekor gajah liar yang telah memusnahkan tanaman sawit muda dan pisang di situ sejak sebulan lepas. Seorang peneroka, Ibrahim Omar, 57 tahun, berkata, beliau kerugian RM5,000 apabila tanaman pisang serta sawit di kawasan tiga hektar miliknya musnah dimakan gajah tersebut. Katanya haiwan itu menceroboh masuk pada waktu tengah malam dan awal pagi dan dipercayai dari kumpulan beberapa ekor gajah yang datang dari Hutan Simpan Berkelah yang bersempadan dengan tanah rancangan tersebut. Mat Nizam Yaakub, 60, pula berkata, anggota Jawatankuasa Kemajuan dan Keselamatan Kampung dan Rela kini bergilir mengawal setiap masa kerana bimbangkan haiwan itu menceroboh ke kawasan penempatan. "Pelbagai cara telah dilakukan untuk menakutkan gajah itu termasuk menembak, membakar mercun dan menghidupkan unggun api serta membakar tayar lama namun haiwan itu tetap berdegil dan terus menceroboh,” katanya. Mat Nizam berharap Jabatan Perlindungan Hidupan Liar dan Taman Negara (Perhilitan) Pahang supaya bertindak segera bagi menghalau haiwan itu bagi mengelak kerugian serta kejadian yang tidak diingini berlaku terhadap peneroka.

Nearly 500 families of FELDA land scheme settlers at FELDA Sungai Tekam Utara near Larantut are worried after the appearance of three wild elephants which had destroyed young newly-grown oil palms and banana trees in the area over the past month. A settler, Ibrahim Omar, 57 years old, said he suffered a loss of RM5000 when his three hectares of planted banana and oil palm trees were destroyed after being eaten by the elephants. He said the beasts had raided in during the night and early morning believed to be from a herd of a few elephants coming from Berkelah Forest Reserve bordering the FELDA land scheme. Mat Nizam Yaakub, 60 years old, said members of the Village Development & Security Committee and RELA are now on rotational shift duties guarding round the clock, worried if the animals will raid the settlement (housing) areas. "Various methods have been done to scare away the elephants including shooting, igniting fire crackers, and lighting up bonfires, and burning of old tyres but the animals were still stubbornly rampaging" he said. Mat Nizam hoped that the Pahang Department of Wild Life & National Parks will immediately take action to chase away the elephants to avoid further losses

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