MEDAN: Residents of Ogan Komering Ilir regency, South Sumatra, were surprised on May 19 by the visit of two Sumatran elephants to Jukung Market in Air Sugihan
The incident was recorded in an amateur video, which went viral after the video was uploaded on Instagram account @ogankomeringilirupdate, as reported by kompas.com.
“That elephant is big,” a man was heard saying in the video. Another voice was heard saying, “they are already tame”.
The two elephants were seen walking calmly in an alley inside the market without any interactions with humans or damage to any stalls.
Ogan Komering Ilir Communications and Information Agency head Adi Yanto confirmed the incident.
“There is an elephant conservation area near the market,” he told The Jakarta Post on May 21.
The Sugihan-Simpang Heran elephant conservation area is the largest elephant habitat in South Sumatra with a population of 141 elephants.
Contacted separately, biodiversity researcher from Hutan Kita Institute (HaKi), Beny Hidayat, said that elephants have brains with a large memory capacity, so they can remember many things, including roaming territory and migration paths they have taken.
Even their capacity to detect roaming territory and migration paths is believed to be inherited genetically.
“So, most probably the market area was the elephants’ migration path or their roaming territory,” he told the Post.
When asked about the absence of conflict between the elephants and humans, he said that elephants would only react upon human responses.
The South Sulawesi Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) said there was no damage nor was anyone harmed by the elephants’ passing through the traditional market.
“Both elephants probably just got separated from the rest of the herd,” South Sumatra BKSDA head Daniwari Widiyanto said in a written statement, as quoted by Sripoku.com.
Separately, Bukit Batu village head Rumida said villagers were accustomed to seeing elephants passing through the area and it was nothing new for them. “Elephants often pass through around Jukung Market but they only pass by the front of the area,” he told reporters on Wednesday, as quoted by tribunnews.com.
“This is the first time they were recorded entering the market alley.”
Rumida said the two elephants, probably a mother and her calf, were simply passing through the market and they did not damage anything.
“This spectacle is not unusual for us and villagers have already anticipated it,” he said.
Air Sugihan Police sub-precinct chief First Insp. Belky Framulia confirmed this, saying the conditions were conducive and safe because the elephants did not linger nor run wild in residential areas.
“They were only passing through and there was no destructive path left behind,” he said.
“They have already returned to the forest.” - The Jakarta Post/ANN
