AS people encroach further and deeper into what was once the natural habitat of wild animals such as elephants, human-wildlife interaction will become an increasingly common occurrence.
With that said, such instances are often dramatic due to their sudden nature and as such any videos of these events tends to go viral rather quickly.
Recently, news of elephants damaging cars near Gerik, Perak went viral. Is this true?
VERDICT:
TRUE
The Perak Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) confirmed receiving a report about several vehicles being damaged when attacked by a group of wild elephants near the Gerik-Jeli East-West Highway (JRTB) Monument on Wednesday (Oct 23).
Its director, Yusoff Shariff, said the department received the report on the incident at about 10pm on Wednesday.
"A total of eight personnel went to the scene and chased away the elephants using the 'shoot and chase' method. About 25 to 30 elephants were at the scene at the time," he said when contacted by Bernama on Thursday (Oct 24).
It was reported that at least five vehicles were damaged when attacked by elephants in the incident at about 9pm. However, no casualties were reported.
