JAKARTA ~ A herd of wild elephants in Sumatra has repeatedly outsmarted efforts to stop them stealing crops, wising up to attempts to chase them off with burning torches, a report said.

The head of Way Kambas natural reserve in Lampung province, Hudiono, told the state-run Antara news agency that a herd of 25 to 30 elephants had been nightly roaming out of the reserve to raid crops since Thursday.

The elephants managed to clamber over earthen embankments built as an obstacle between the reserve and the fields by using their trunks to hold onto each other, he said, adding that an electrified wire fence was also no match for the canny beasts as they felled it using tree trunks.