The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry will track down and translocate the wild elephant that trampled a lorry driver at Km 19, East-West Highway (Gerik-Jeli Highway) yesterday.

Its minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) will translocate the wild elephant to a conservation center to prevent conflicts between wild animals and humans from recurring.

“This kind of incident happens when humans encroach wildlife habitats and we tried to avoid conflict between humans and animals through this way (by translocating to conservation center),” he told reporters after the officiating of the FRIM Incorporated (FRIM Inc) in Kepong today.

The event was officiated by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Wan Junaidi was commenting on the 4.30pm incident in which the victim, M Paramanazan, 69, from Sungai Siput Utara, Perak, suffered a broken left arm and ribs, injuries to the right arm and believed to have broken one of the bones in his neck, after being trampled by an elephant. 

The victim and his son were traveling to Gerik when they came across the elephant near a memorial monument along the highway. 

Paramanazan reportedly wanted to take a closer look at the animal when it chased and trampled him. 

His son, in his 40s, who was driving the lorry brought him to the Gerik Hospital before being transferred to the Taiping Hospital for follow-up treatment.

Wan Junaidi also advised the public not to encroach forests for agricultural purposes as it would disturb wildlife habitats.

-- Bernama