JOHOR BAHRU: An incident that would without a doubt leave a traumatic effect on anyone had occurred on the first day of Aidiladha. A fruit vendor who has her fruit stall located in Batu Mawai, Kota Tinggi was terrified when two elephants ― an adolescent elephant calf ― came charging towards her stall on Friday night.
Subsequent to the rampage, the aftermath of the elephants led them to the streets where several video footages of an elephant in the middle of the busy road in Kota Tinggi, disrupting traffic and getting the attention from public were uploaded online and went viral on social media.
Kota Tinggi police chief Supt Hussin Zamora said the 52-year-old trader suffered losses amounting to RM1, 000 due to damage to the stall and her merchandise in the 8pm incident.
The wildlife department had been informed of the incident, he said in a statement issued here yesterday.
Further investigation on the fruit vendor, Sumini Rebo, who managed to escape being rammed by the elephants, said that last night’s incident was her third encounter with the elephants in the course of a week.
“The first was last Monday and then the following day, and on both occasions the elephants only came to eat the fruits at my stall.
“However, last night they were aggressive and not only they eat the watermelons, they also damaged my stall” she said when met by Bernama.
Meanwhile Johor Wildlife director Salman Saaban said the department believed the elephants in Friday night’s attack on the fruit stall were the same ones that attacked a security guard last Monday.
The security guard was found dead in a sand mine area at Batu 6, Simpang Perani-Mawai in Kota Tinggi.
He also advised motorists who came in conflict with elephants along the Kota Tinggi-Mersing road to give way to the pachyderms to cross the road and to not take pictures and videos as this would disturb the animal. – Bernama
