Dozens of Wild Elephants Destroy Houses, Plantations in East Aceh

TheIndonesia.id - Residents of Seumanah Jaya village in East Aceh regency have reported that dozens of wild elephants destroyed their houses and plantations, and some locals have been forced to evacuate.

As confirmed by one of the locals, herds of elephants have entered the village and wreaked havoc, and several villagers have left their homes because the animals are still within the area.

“There are several houses and farm huts that have been destroyed by these elephant herds – as well as oil palm, banana, and rubber plantations,” Seumanah Jaya village resident Alamsyah said on Friday, July 1, as reported by Antara.

According to him, there are three herds, and each one consists of 15 to 20 elephants. They were initially seen by villagers on Wednesday.

It is also reported that since the animals continue to stay in the village, some locals who live near plantations have decided to evacuate to avoid being attacked.

Villagers have been trying to force the elephants out of the village with help from Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL).

“It’s done by [utilizing] the sound of firecrackers and lighting torches at nighttime, so they move away. However, they’re still there,” Alamsyah explained.

Meanwhile, the Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) in Aceh province said it had yet to receive report about the animal intrusion.

“Once there’s a report, we’ll deploy our team,” head of BKSDA Aceh Agus Arianto said, adding that similar incident also took place in East Aceh earlier, but it had been successfully handled.

Head of East Aceh People’s Representative Council (DPRK) Fattah Fikri said he expected BKSDA to immediately send a team to help locals lead these wild elephants out of the village by using the help of tame elephants from the Conservation Response Unit (CRU) Serbajadi.