Man, Elephant "At War" In Bengkalis

Dumai, Riau, (ANTARARIAU News) - Residents of Balai Makam village , Mandau sub-district, Bengkalis, Riau, are now "at war" with a herd of wild elephants that had wreaked havoc on their plantations and both sides are now reported to be hunting each other.

"It's a war between two species with the villagers being attacked by the giant animals again and again " a Bali Makan community figure, Ali Suharman, said on Thursday.

The herd (of elephants) comes to the village during day or night time to rampage on the people's plantations.

"After crops on hectares of plantations were destroyed by the herd, the angry villagers decided to hunt the animals," he said.

However, when the humans meet the animals in the field, they prove unable to fight and eventually even run away, chased by the elephants. "Often, it is the elephants hunting the villagers," Ali said.

Ali said the villagers had tried several ways to drive the herd away such as firecrackers, cannons but nothing worked.

"We are hoping that the local government and other relevant institutions could provide a fast solution to the problem because of the damage caused by the herds," Ali said.

Just like war, this so called "war" also causing casualties on both sides, the elephant and human along the borderline of the residential and forest areas, places where both species are spawning.

The war is believed to have started after the decreasing elephant's habitat from irresponsible human activities that forced the animals to get in to the village to search for food.

Usually the "war of the species" is stopped by the local Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA, Ali said.