Three elephants were found dead close to a nature reserve in Dong Nai Province Tuesday, even as two earlier deaths in the same area remain unexplained.
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| Dong Nai police examined the remains of three elephants found dead in a local forest yard. |
Three elephants were found dead close to a nature reserve in
Police are investigating both the incidents.
The stink of the pachyderm’s corpses led residents to the La Nga Forest Yard that neighbors the Vinh Cuu Relics and Nature Reserve.
Two elephant corpses were found in the reserve last month.
Police are still puzzled about the cause of death in the first case.
Dang Canh, director of the yard, said residents of Thanh Son Commune in Dinh Quan District “rarely have conflicts with the elephants.”
Canh said the residents only turn on flashlights or light a fire to keep the elephants away from their houses. “It’s unlikely that they have poisoned the elephants.”
Forensic pathologists on Wednesday found mango seeds in the stomachs of the elephants, raising suspicions that the animals were poisoned while eating mangos that had just been sprayed with pesticides.
Pesticides sprayed on mangoes had also been suspected as the cause of two earlier deaths in the province, but no final conclusion has been drawn yet.
Some forest rangers doubt the theory regarding mangoes as elephants are strong.
The three dead elephants – one large, one medium sized and one small one, belong to a herd of 13-15 that often appear in the area, Canh said.
There’s a chance that the big and small elephants are mother and child, the pathologists said.
(Source: thanhniennews)
