Mohd Naim and his colleagues who are also elephant handlers at Johor Perhilitan, tending to their charges.
“EAT, exercise, sleep, repeat” may sound like a relaxing weekend for some people. It is actually the daily routine for three elephants housed at a sanctuary in Kota Tinggi, Johor.
Johor Elephant Sanctuary (JES), at the border of Panti Forest, is located some 17km from Kota Tinggi town.
It is home to 13-year-old Nine (pronounced nee-ner), a female elephant rescued from Pahang; seven-year-old Pes, a male jumbo translocated from Perak; and Panti, a five-year-old juvenile rescued from Kota Tinggi.
At the 73ha sanctuary, trained handlers from Johor Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) take care of the three mammals.
Ling (right) looking at napier grass planted within the sanctuary. With him is Johor MCA treasurer Datuk Ng Keng Heng who is also Kota Tinggi MCA division chief.
Two handlers usually take turns caring for one elephant at any given time.
A typical day for the elephants begins with the handlers taking them out of their paddock for morning exercise to keep the pachyderms active and healthy.
This is followed by feeding time, where each elephant can consume up to 150kg of food such as fruits, leaves, shoots and grass, which make up their main diet.
They also drink about 70 to 100 litres of water each day.
As the weather is quite hot these days, the elephants are taken to a river within the sanctuary for a cooling bath daily, where they also spend time playing among themselves.
According to Johor Perhilitan wildlife assistant Mohd Naim Hamiz, one of the trained handlers at JES, elephants are known to be creatures of habit.
“It is vital for us to stick to the same routine every single day,” he said when interviewed by StarMetro.
Johor Elephant Sanctuary in Kota Tinggi, which opened in September 2020. — Photos: THOMAS YONG/The Star
He added that handlers’ working hours were from 8am to 5pm, with those on duty also making their rounds from 8pm to 10pm to ensure the elephants were doing well in their paddocks.
Mohd Naim said that taking care of elephants was not an easy task, and handlers had to undergo specific courses.
“I went through six months of training in total, followed by annual refresher courses to master elephant communication and handling techniques,” said the 27-year-old who is one of Panti’s handlers.
“It took me about half a year to get acquainted with Panti before he was comfortable with me.
“At first, he did not want to follow me even when I nudged him.
“A lot of patience and perseverance is needed for this job.
“And we must also be consistent when interacting with the elephants, to get them to ‘listen’ to us,” Mohd Naim added.
Increasing food supply
Johor health and environment committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said that other than tending to the elephants’ daily routine, staff were also tasked with checking the animals’ health and physical condition, conducting translocation operations and creating public awareness of wildlife issues.
Ling said the sanctuary opened in September 2020, not just to house rescued elephants in paddocks but as a safe environment in which they could roam.
Handlers guiding the pachyderms to the river for bathtime.
“JES is not just a place to keep rescued elephants. Our main objective is to create a food bank for elephants by planting crops such as bananas, sugarcane and napier grass in the forest.
“With the increased food supply, we hope wild elephants will wander into the area and then stay there.
“This could help minimise human-wildlife conflicts because the animals usually encroached into human settlements such as farms and residential areas in search of food,” he said.
Ling said the food bank was a long-term initiative as Perhilitan received about 100 complaints involving elephants annually, with losses totalling RM1.1mil.
He noted that elephants tended to follow their natural migration route regardless of development, which led to the animals crossing paths with humans.
He cited an incident on March 23 in Kluang, where an elephant calf died after straying onto train tracks.
The animal was rammed by a passenger train heading from Johor Baru to Gemas.
Filepic of a female elephant hit by vehicles and killed at Batu 7, Jalan Kota Tinggi-Mersing in Johor in 2021.
Ling said he would raise the matter with Transport Ministry to suggest precautionary measures to prevent future accidents involving wildlife.
Through identification and tracking efforts, Perhilitan had recorded approximately 120 to 160 wild elephants currently in Johor, he said.
He added that the mammals were mostly found in the eastern parts of the state such as Kota Tinggi, Mersing and Kahang in Kluang.
Part of the state government’s plan was to direct wild elephants into the Panti Forest corridor and the abundant food supply in the area, Ling elaborated.
“There are several villages surrounding JES, so we are planning to instal fences at the border using a fund of RM8mil, to prevent elephants from wandering into those areas.
“Planting adequate food supply for wild elephants requires considerable effort and financial resources.
“Therefore, we encourage companies and non-governmental organisations to collaborate with Perhilitan through corporate social responsibility programmes,” he added.
Visitor facilities
The sanctuary currently features facilities such as administration building, paddocks to accommodate six elephants, bridges, parking lot, staff quarters and a pasture area, which were constructed under phase one of the project.
Ling said the sanctuary had entered its second phase to add visitors facilities, which would be built by the Public Works Department with an allocation of RM29mil from the Federal Government.
“With the designs ready, construction should commence this year after we receive the funds.
“Our plan is to eventually open JES to the public by 2026 to educate them about the importance of wildlife protection and conservation,” he said, adding that the entry fee would be discussed in the future.
Ling also said he would be working with relevant agencies to promote and develop more environment-related attractions to achieve a two-pronged objective of education and tourism promotion.
Malaysian Tourist Guides Council president Jimmy Leong, when contacted, said the government must first ensure that JES achieved its prime objectives of conservation and public education before anything else.
“The sanctuary should not be perceived as a showplace for elephants and there should not be any form of activities that will stress the wild animals, such as rides or performances.
“If the management can ensure that intrusion on their natural habitat can be minimised at all times, then JES can be promoted as an attraction.
“Implementing a daily visitor limit can prevent distress to the elephants due to large crowds,” said Leong, noting that the sanctuary’s opening in another two years aligned with the state’s Visit Johor Year 2026 tourism campaign.
