IPOH, Aug 15 — A wild elephant believed to have trampled an Orang Asli woman to death in Kampung Bal, Kemar Resettlement Scheme (RPS), Gerik, last Sunday, has been successfully driven back into the jungle.
The Department of Wildlife Protection and National Parks (Perhilitan) director Yusoff Shariff said that the Perak State Elephant Action Unit has implemented control measures at the incident site and successfully guided the elephant back into the jungle.
“We started the process of chasing away the suspected male elephant from the Temenggor Forest Reserve, from yesterday evening until last night,” he said when contacted by Bernama here today.
Residents were advised to clean up or destroy elephant food, especially Napier grass (commonly known as elephant grass) to prevent it from returning to the area.
Since it’s durian season, they should avoid going to the orchards by themselves, especially early morning or late afternoon,” he added.
Yesterday, Gerik District Police Chief, Supt Zulkifli Mahmood, said police received a report about a 63-year-old Orang Asli woman being trampled by an elephant in a durian orchard near her house at 5.30pm last Sunday.
He said in a statement, the victim had gone to the orchard to collect durians between 4 to 5pm when she encountered an elephant and was subsequently trampled. She was then taken to the RPS Kemar Health Clinic, where she was confirmed dead.
The post-mortem conducted at Gerik Hospital yesterday morning found that the cause of death was “blunt force trauma to the chest”. The body has been released to the family for burial. — Bernama
