KOTA TINGGI: Johor is planning to set up 21 food banks to help mitigate conflicts between wild elephants and villagers.
Johor Health and Environment Committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said four sites were identified, including one within the Johor Elephant Sanctuary at Panti Forest Reserve here.
The food banks will supply the elephants with adequate natural food sources, which will prevent the mammals from wandering out in search of food.
Long said the Wildlife Department (Perhilitan) and universities collaborated in finding the solution after extensive studies.
"The best solution is to create designated food banks for the elephants," Ling said during a working visit to the sanctuary today.
"We want to avoid translocating or harming the elephants; thus, we took a natural approach to create these food banks. They will be located along traditional elephant routes, particularly in Kota Tinggi, Kluang and Mersing, where elephant sightings are frequent."
Ling added that the state government was collaborating with plantation owners to grow Napier grass, banana trees and sugarcane that would provide elephants with food within these zones.
Ling said other actions were to install satellite collars to monitor the herd movement, selective relocations, forming community and farm-level rapid response teams and working closely with universities and NGOs on conservation efforts.
He also said a RM9 million project to erect fencing around the Panti Forest Reserve and other forested areas bordering villages were being studied.
He said this could reduce the human-animal conflict by 50 per cent.