A herd of hungry, “angry” elephants have been raiding farms regularly of late in the southern province of Dong Nai, local authorities report.
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| An elephant in a manioc field in Dong Nai. |
A herd of hungry, “angry” elephants have been raiding farms regularly of late in the southern province of Dong Nai, local authorities report.
They also say they are worried that the raids could spark a clash between farmers and the elephants, and that the latter would suffer as a result.
Forest rangers in Dong Nai Wednesday reported that a herd of ten elephants have been showing up at night and destroying corn, sugarcane and potato fields in Vinh Cuu District for around two weeks now.
Locals said the appearance of elephants is not strage as they live on the border of a nature reserve, but the animals have never come in such big number and with such “anger.”
Tran Van Mui, director of the Dong Nai Nature and Culture Reserve, said the elephants included male, female and young members of a herd that live in a 30,000 hectare protected area that stretches from the famous Cat Tien National Park to the reserve.
Some officials say the lack of rain this season could have resulted in a loss of food for the pachyderms.
Dang Van Nhon, head of a local hamlet, has proposed that special teams are set up to help the locals drive the elephants while ensuring they do not come to any harm.
Nhon said he’s afraid locals wanting to protect their lives and their fields could end up killing the big animals.
Vietnam has no effective measures to prevent conflicts between elephants and people.
Experts have said wild elephants are likely to disappear in Vietnam by 2030 without urgent action taken to protect them.
Vietnam had around 2,000 elephants in the mid-90s but the number has plunged to between 70 and 100 due to poaching and deforestation, according to figures from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment last year.
(Source: TNNews)
