JOHOR BAHRU: After receiving 624 cases of conflicts between wild elephants and villagers in Johor in four years, a long-term plan of setting up 21 food banks for elephants is in the pipeline to resolve the conflicts.

Wild elephants have encroached into villages in Mersing and Kota Tinggi for the last three years and Kluang this year.

The Johor wildlife department received 178 cases up till September this year where Kluang topped the list with a total of 80 cases, followed by Mersing (38) and Kota Tinggi (43).

Two cases of villagers died after being attacked by wild elephants in Kahang and Rompin this year, The wild elephants attacked villagers and consumed the plantations of up to 200 kg of food in a day.

Johor Health and Environment Committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said the state government planned to collaborate with villagers to set up food banks for wild elephants to resolve the clash between human and wild elephants.

A hectare of land would be used to plant sugar cane, banana and Napier grass along the traditional routes of the elephants in Kota Tinggi, Mersing and Kluang so they would return to the forests.

A total of four food banks are in operation now, he said, adding that the wild elephants are estimated to be 120 and 160 of them from five different groups.

A medium-term plan has also been drawn up to collaborate with university to set up electric fence to prevent wild elephants from entering the villagers as well as satellite collars to track the herd movement.

“The government had approved RM9 million allocation to set up a 16km electric fence at the fringe of forest and farmland or villages,’’ Ling said during a visit to the Johor Elephant Sanctuary at Panti Forest Reserve.

The electric fence is believed to be able to reduce the human -elephant conflict by 50% and protect up to eight villages nearby the Panti Forest Reserve from the wild elephants.