This followed two incidents last week in which pygmy elephants encroached into inhabited areas in Telupid.
In the first incident on Feb 28, a herd of 10 elephants entered the compound of the Beluran police station.
The other incident took place the following day when an elephant walked into a hostel dining hall in SMK Telupid, to the horror of teachers and students.
The two incidents were just recent examples of the human-elephant conflict, which seems to have escalated in interior Telupid, about 120km from here, since a month ago.
Wildlife rescue unit (WRU) personnel have been working non-stop to capture elephants that encroach into populated areas as well as to ensure that other animals stay away from villagers and their crops.
To date, wildlife rangers have captured and relocated six elephants to forest reserves but Masidi said this was only a short-term solution and they needed to find another way to tackle the issue.
“We can’t forever be doing things on an ad-hoc basis. I have asked the wildlife department director to give a briefing this week and we’re going to discuss options available to us. We recognise that it’s a real problem.
“We have captured six elephants so far, the troublemakers, and relocated them to forest reserves. But somehow they are able to come back to Telupid after a couple of days.”
Masidi said translocation was also an expensive affair, costing between RM20,000 and RM30,000 for each elephant.
“I’m more concerned about the long-term solution but I think all of us (including) the stakeholders need to sit down and work out the solutions,” he told reporters here today.
Beluran police chief ASP V Shivananthan however said translocation was not the solution, adding that the authorities should look at building electric fencing near the forest reserve boundaries.
“Translocation doesn’t work at all because they always come back. In fact, the elephants came to my station every day last week, grouping and grazing behind my office.
“They don’t attack people but there are three calves with the group and the cows could get aggressive if you get too close,” he said.
He urged for a quick solution before matters get worse.
“My biggest worry is actually SMK Telupid. What if students go near the elephants… that could turn out very bad. I hope that won’t happen,” Shivananthan said.
The WRU is also monitoring a herd of 20 elephants which had encroached into farmlands at a group of villages in Telupid.