Herd of elephants tramples fields

BENGKULU, Bengkulu: A herd of 15 elephants from the Bukit Barisan National Park went on a rampage last week, trampling hectares of paddy fields and pepper crops in three villages.

The villages affected were Tanjung Ganti, Penyandingan and Kedataran, all in the district of Kaur Selatan, according to the head of the local office for natural conservation, Sujatno.

Sujatno was quoted by Antara as saying the fields were located in areas where the elephants used to roam. "The elephants routinely went to these areas to search for food. It just so happens that the land was converted to rice and pepper fields," he said.

Conservation workers have gone to villages to persuade villagers not to use violence to drive the elephants off of their fields. (swe)