Three oil palm plantation workers had a frightening encounter with a herd of wild elephants after the animals entered a plantation in Jabor, Cheneh, here on Wednesday afternoon.
Excavator operator Muhammad Haikal Farhan Mohamad Samsor, 24, said the incident happened at about 4.30pm while he was clearing a drain when a herd of elephants suddenly emerged from a nearby forest.
He said two plantation workers noticed the animals and attempted to drive them away after two elephants became aggressive and damaged his Honda EX-5 motorcycle.
“About six wild elephants were roaming around 30 metres from the excavator I was operating. Two of them became aggressive, chasing the plantation workers and stepping on my motorcycle until it was damaged,” he said when contacted today.
Despite the frightening encounter, all three workers managed to escape without injury. The herd subsequently returned to the nearby forest about 30 minutes later.
Terengganu Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) director Dennis Ten Choon Yung said the department received a report from plantation workers about the presence of the elephants at around 5.15pm.
Following the complaint, six Perhilitan officers from the Kemaman district were deployed to the area to conduct checks, monitoring and control operations.
“Monitoring found that the wild elephant herd had entered the oil palm plantation in search of food,” he said in a statement today.
Perhilitan officers then carried out a “shoot-and-chase” operation, along with physical monitoring and drone surveillance, to track the herd’s movements around the reported location.
Dennis said the forest reserve closest to the incident was Cerul Forest Reserve.
The incident highlights the challenges faced by plantation workers operating close to forest areas, particularly when wildlife ventures into cultivated land in search of food. Perhilitan is continuing to monitor the area to reduce the risk of further encounters between the elephants and plantation workers.
