The Wildlife and National Parks Department has allocated about RM1.5 million to build an electric fence to prevent elephants from entering villages in Perak and Pahang.
Elephant management unit head, Nasharuddin Othman, said the 40km fence would shock but not harm the animals.
“We have built this type of fence in Jeli here and in several states,” he told reporters after relocating a 2.5 tonne male elephant that was caught two weeks ago for destroying crops to the Kelantan National Park.
Nasharuddin said that about 200 of the 1,200-odd wild elephants in the peninsula could wander into residential areas near hillsides.
“They come down the hills to eat fruits during certain seasons,” he said, indirectly observing that the animals were only following the cycles of nature.
He said the areas where elephants were likely to wander into were around the Titiwangsa Range covering Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan, Perak, Johor and Kedah.
— Bernama
Yalinie Mathan
Admin
