Desperate elephants attack villagers in North Sumatra

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

As the world-famous Gunung Leuser National Park suffers from a continuous logging onslaught, at least 13 rare jungle elephants have been forced from the jungle, causing chaos in local villages.

Park head Awriya Ibrahim said on Wednesday that the elephants had terrorized villagers in Sikundur and Bahorok, Langkat regency, North Sumatra.

Many locals had been forced to flee their homes though no casualties had been reported, he said.

They also attacked more than 10 domesticated elephants being raised at the park's animal training center in Sekundur, leaving one of the tame animals dead, he said.

Awriya said the latest attack took place on Tuesday after several similar incidents since the end of last month.

"But by this morning (Wednesday), the ransacking elephants have been able to be evicted from the community resettlement areas," he told The Jakarta Post.

Awriya said the elephants were forced to leave their habitat as a result of destruction to the protected forest, located on the border of North Sumatra and Aceh provinces.

He cited illegal logging and land-clearing for settlement areas that did not take into account the life cycle or home range of elephants, he said.

Data shows that the worst destruction was recorded at the wildlife reserve zones in Sekundur and in Kluet in South Aceh, and at the Lawe Gurah Tourism Park in North Sumatra, he said.

Other damaged areas include those in Gunung Leuser, Bahorok and Kappi.

He said his office based in Kotacane had uncovered at least 24 cases of illegal logging and land acquisition, three of which were being processed by the courts.