Rampaging Elephants Plague Sumatra Villages

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Sumatran village officials have asked the central government to provide tranquilizer guns to use on rogue herds of hungry rampaging elephants.

Officials said south Sumatran villages have been plagued by elephants that descend on them after dark, devouring rice, bananas, corn and coconuts and smashing anything in their way.

The herds have escaped from reservations where they were driven last year and appear to have developed a new-found taste for rice, the officials said.

Tranquilizer guns are vital to subdue the elephants because tamers brought from Thailand have failed to pacify the beasts, they said.