Elephants hit back at illegal loggers

Elephants hit back at illegal loggers

BANDAR LAMPUNG, Lampung: Dozens of wild elephants have
trampled hundreds of hectares of rice fields and plantations in
several areas in East Lampung regency over the past week.

Prayit, the chief of Labuhan Ratu subdistrict, said it was an
annual "attack", and always occurred during the rice harvest
season.

He estimated that at least 200 hectares of paddy were damaged
by the wild, indigenous pachyderms, as were 1,500 hectares of
coconut and cassava plantations. The elephants also laid waste to
several human settlements, in which people, mostly illegal
loggers and their families, had encroached upon the elephants'
native habitat. -- JP