The Slow Response Of Sumatran Elephants To Enter The Palm Oil Plantation Of Residents Leads To Destruction Of The BKSDA Office

Sumatran elephant (elephas maximus Sumatrensis).(ANTARA-HO-Ko)

JAMBI - A number of Sumatran elephants or Elephas maximus sumatrensis went into and damaged oil palm plantations belonging to residents in Lubuk Kambing Village, Renah Mendaluh District, West Tanjungjabung Regency (Tanjabbar), Jambi.

"Many residents' gardens were damaged and their young palm oil was eaten by a herd of wild elephants and now residents have felt restless and have suffered losses due to the actions of the large-bodied animal," said Edo (32), a local resident, Tuesday, February 27, as reported by Antara.

Residents hope that there will be efforts from the affected parties such as the Jambi Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) to expel a herd of wild elephants from entering their habitat again, so that they no longer enter and damage residents' oil palm plantations.

In the aftermath of the wild elephant herd action, residents came to the local BKSDA office and reported the case. However, until now there has been no response so that on Monday 26 February, a number of residents damaged the BKSDA offices and the LSM Frankfurt Zoolological Society (FZS) in Tanjabbar.

The citizen's spontaneity action was because many of their gardens were damaged but the response from stakeholders was zero.

So far, the Tanjabbar Resort Police (Polres) has examined a number of witnesses related to the vandalism case.