Elephants destroy crops

BANDAR LAMPUNG, Lampung: Elephants coming down from the Bukit Barisan National Park have been destroying the substantial food crops in West Lampung for the past three months.

A number of village chiefs told Antara over the weekend that dozens of the beasts destroyed hectares of coffee and rice crops.

Chief of the Negara Ratu village Ikhwan Z said that the elephants came down to the villages late in the afternoon and destroyed the crops throughout the evening.

He said that the rice crops in the fields located near the affected villages could not be harvested, while the coffee had to be collected before it was ripe.(par)