Special ops to translocate elephants begins in Johor

The Star

15-07-2025

Mammoth move: Ling (left) petting an elephant that was brought in for the launch of the operation in Johor. Looking on are Abdul Kadir (centre) and Vidyananthan.
KLUANG: The Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) has launched a special operation to translocate about 25 elephants across Peninsular Malaysia as part of its effort to address human-elephant conflicts, says its director-general Datuk Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim.
He said Johor – one of the states most affected by the conflict – would be the first state to carry out the operation.
'The operation officially begins this month, with Johor being the first state to carry it out with the support of about 30 Perhilitan officers from across the peninsula.
'It will then continue in other states affected by the conflict, and we expect to translocate about 25 wild elephants by July next year,' he said, adding that Johor Perhilitan will coordinate the operation.
He said this after the launch of the Johor Elephant Translocation Operation here yesterday.
Also present were Johor health and environment committee chairman Ling Tian Soon, Kahang assemblyman R. Vidyananthan and Johor Perhilitan director Aminuddin Jamin.
Abdul Kadir added that the operation would involve the Elephant Capture Unit from the National Elephant Conservation Centre in Kuala Gandah as well as other agencies.
'One of the main objectives of the operation is to reduce elephant conflicts in high-risk areas systematically. It will also help us identify and relocate elephant groups that are actively disturbing agricultural areas, villages and residential zones.
'We also hope to collect scientific data through this operation to improve policies for managing wild elephants,' he said.
He added that between 2020 and 2024, Perhilitan received 4,920 elephant-human related complaints.
'This led to losses amounting to about RM39.4mil with Johor, Kelantan, Pahang, Perak and Terengganu being the most affected states,' Abdul Kadir said.
Meanwhile, Ling said nearly 700 complaints related to human-elephant conflicts in the state have been reported to Johor Perhilitan in the last five years.
This is a serious issue, especially in the Kluang, Kota Tinggi, Mersing and Segamat districts, he said.
'In fact, in the first six months of this year alone, human-elephant conflicts have caused losses amounting to about RM1.1mil.
'While Johor Perhilitan has been actively conducting translocation operations annually, its workforce is not enough to cope with the high number of complaints.
'As such, we have reached out to the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry for assistance, which has led to the launch of the special translocation operation,' he said.
Ling added the operation in Johor, which is being carried out from this month until December, was expected to translocate between 10 and 12 elephants.
'With this new operation, which is receiving support from Perhilitan officers from across Peninsular Malaysia, we expect to double that number,' he said.
To support the effort, Ling said the state government had also channelled RM600,000 from its Ecological Fiscal Transfers fund for the operation.
'Johor is the only state that has made such an allocation, which shows our commitment to addressing the issue,' he added.