Three-year-old Mekla eagerly munches on pieces of sugarcane we offer her, her excitement growing as we call her name. She’s the youngest resident at the National Elephant Conservation Centre (NECC) in Kuala Gandah, Pahang — just a two-hour drive from Kuala Lumpur.
Unlike a zoo, the NECC is a rehabilitation and conservation facility established in 1989 by Perhilitan (Department of Wildlife and National Parks). It rescues and cares for elephants affected by deforestation, human-wildlife conflict and poaching. Currently, elephants aged between 3 and 53 are sheltered here.
One of the most heart-rending moments comes with meeting Sanum, a gentle elephant in her early 20s — and the only one among the 25 without a tail, a tragic reminder of an attack by a tiger. While Mekla was rescued from a landslide, another elephant uses a prosthetic limb after being injured in a snare trap.
An Indian Connection
As if sharing the same word for elephant in Sanskrit —gajah — wasn’t connection enough, the centre also has a unique historical link to India. In 1974, four elephants — Lokimala, Lal Bahadur, Paul Bahadur and Ganesha — were brought from Assam as part of a government exchange programme.
These “gentle giants” played a crucial role in helping Perhilitan relocate wild elephants by first forming bonds with them.
Despite high upkeep costs, the centre remains free to visit—an educational experience ideal for families and animal lovers. Elephant rides were banned in 2012, deemed unethical due to their damaging effects on the animals’ spines.
As agriculture expanded, the elephants’ natural foraging areas shrank, pushing them into the ubiquitous oil palm plantations and towns in search of food. Since the Asian elephant is an endangered species, locals are urged not to harm them but to report sightings to Perhilitan, which then rehabilitates and relocates the animals to larger national parks across Peninsular Malaysia.
In 2017–18, EXIM Bank Malaysia contributed MYR 200,000 to support the centre’s efforts. According to the Pahang Tourism website, the centre — staffed by over 35 dedicated workers — has successfully relocated nearly 400 wild elephants facing habitat loss.
The writer was in Malaysia at the invitation of Malaysian Palm Oil Council