Increasing Elephant Attacks In Aceh Jaya

Bernama
September 13, 2008

BANDA ACEH, Sept 13 (Bernama) -- Elephant attacks have been occurring with increasing frequency in Pantee in Aceh Jaya District during the past one month, ANTARA news agency reported quoting local sources as saying.

"Since they entered this region last August, the herds of wild elephants have destroyed crops on hectares of farm land," Abdul Hakim, a local farmer, told ANTARA on Saturday.

Some 13 Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) were currently in the outskirts of Ie Jeureungeh village and in a forest bordering the SP-V Patek transmigration area which abounds in plants favoured by elephants.

"We have tried many ways to drive them away, for instance by making fire balls but in vain," he said.

Meanwhile, the head of the Nanggroe Aceh Darrussalam natural resources conservation body (BKSDA), Andi Basrul, said the elephants had been driven out from their natural habitat by loud noises and human activities.

The population of the Sumatran elephants is currently estimated at 2,440 to 3,350. The elephants have been declared a protected species by the Indonesian government.

The Sumatran elephants, the smallest of the Asian elephants, are facing serious pressures arising from illegal logging and associated habitat loss and fragmentation in Indonesia.