A HERD of elephants has left plantation owners in Segamat, Johor, devastated after straying into orchards, destroying crops and trampling guard dogs to death.
The herd of 20 elephants fed on durians, oil palm and bananas in the plantations.
China Press reported that the incursions, reported in the Bekok area, have caused significant financial losses and emotional distress to farmers who spent years cultivating their land.
Some 20 plantation owners have reported their grievances to Bekok assemblyman Tan Chong.
Among them was 70-year-old Ju Jiu, who owns a durian orchard located near a known route used by elephants.
“Out of the 24 durian trees in my orchard, six Black Thorn and Musang King trees were knocked down. All were around 11 years old. I lost around 250 durians,” Ju said.
He added that two of his guard dogs at the plantation were also trampled to death by elephants.
Meanwhile, Tan said he received numerous complaints since mid-December about elephant herds trespassing on plantations and damaging crops which took years to grow.
Tan urged owners to report elephant sightings to the Wildlife and National Parks Department so that action could be quickly.
> A family was forced to seek help from the National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK) after a woman choked her mother and bit her husband.
Sin Chew Daily quoted the Kuala Muda AADK office as saying that the 38-year-old woman developed severe mental and behavioural disturbances after abusing methamphetamine.
Authorities have since intervened and provided rehabilitation treatment to the woman.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
