Wild male elephant relocated to Royal Belum forest reserve

A wild male elephant, aged more than 30 years, was relocated to the Royal Belum Forest Reserve today after it was captured by the Perak Wildlife Protection and National Parks Department last Wednesday.

The elephant, named 'Awang Perah' was relocated after it was sedated and brought out of Kampung Perah here with the help of two female decoy elephants from the Kuala Gandah National Elephant Conservation Centre in Temerloh.

Under the guidance of decoy elephants Kala and Rambai, the wild elephant was taken on a special lorry out of the village area.

The operations led by the head of the centre's Elephant Unit Nasharuddin Othman involved 25 personnel from the Perak Wildlife Protection and National Parks Department as well as from the centre.

Nasharuddin said the centre received reports of the wild elephant from the villagers who said it was seen near the Perah highway stopover, a public area.

"The elephant had destroyed the crops of the locals such as banana trees in Kampung Perah for several months and was seen in major public areas," he said.

He advised locals that if there were elephants in the village areas, they should not do anything but should report the matter to the Wildlife Department.

"The villagers may think the elephant is tame and act on their own. The elephant may feel threatened and react, endangering the people," he said.

Meanwhile, Temenggor state assemblyman Salbiah Mohamed urged the state government to take the relevant measures such as increasing electric fences around the villages to stop wild elephants from threatening the safety of the people.

She also urged the state government to re-consider the proposal to set up an Elephant Sanctuary at the Gerik-Jeli East-West Highway.

"Besides solving the problem of the elephants faced by the people, the sanctuary would also be an eco-tourism attraction," she said.