Pekanbaru: A herd of wild Sumatran elephants (elephas maximus sumatranus) ravaged a coconut plantation in the Riau capital city of Pekanbaru on Monday morning.
"Some 13 elephants entered the plantation," plantation owner Mangido Nababan informed Antar this morning
The elephants were first spotted by local residents on Saturday evening. They later entered Nababan's plantation. They reportedly damaged hundreds of seedlings and some 20 four-year-old coconut trees.
The wild elephants had entered and destroyed his plantation thrice so far, including the first being on July 30, 2017, and again on August 10, 2019.
Meanwhile, 32 wild Sumatran elephants had ravaged dozens of hectares of the local farmers' agricultural land in Negeri Antara Village, Pintu Rime Gayo district, Bener Meriah regency, in Aceh Province in early February 2019.
As a result, several local farmers severely suffered material losses caused by damaged crops and fruits. Besides that, they also developed a fear of entering their farms.
"The government is expected to resolve this human-elephant conflict," Negeri Antara Village resident Ismail informed Antara on February 10.
Ismail said the hungry Sumatran elephants ravaged the farms that local farmers used for their durian and banana orchards as well as for planting pinang or areca nut palm trees and other crops. He added the wild elephants not only ravaged the farmers' agricultural land but they also damaged their huts
In dealing with this human-elephant conflict, Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) officers attempted to drive out the jumbo animals from the village area. However, the wild Sumatran elephants could still be spotted around the village's area that they had trespassed into several weeks ago. (Antara)
Cek Berita dan Artikel yang lain di Google News
FOLLOW US
Ikuti media sosial medcom.id dan dapatkan berbagai keuntungan
