Wild elephants have been destroying local households’ crops since the start of this year. (Photo: VNA)Dong Nai (VNA) – Forestrangers of Dinh Quan district in the southern province of Dong Nai have beenprovided with equipment to monitor and drive away wild elephants that have beendestroying local households’ crops since the start of this year.
The equipment includes a drone, night-vision binoculars, cameras, long-beam lights,hand-held loudspeakers, protective footwear, and raincoats.
Nguyen Van Chieu, head of the district’s forest ranger team, said about 14 wildelephants, in groups of two or three, have approached households in Hamlet 5,Thanh Son commune, Dinh Quan district, to search for food, salt, and water.
Since early 2019, there have been 11 incidents of elephants intruding upon cropfields of local households, he said, adding that Dong Nai’s forest rangerdepartment has built a 50km electric fence system and is asking for permissionto set up another 20km to prevent wild elephants from coming into the area.
Experts say the elephant requires avast habitat, but its living space has been shrunk due to human encroachmentinto the forest. Local foresters in Dong Nai say the natural habitat for wildAsian elephants has shrunk from 50,000ha in the 1990s to 34,000ha in 2009.
Only some 100 wildelephants remain in Vietnam, with most living in Dak Lak, Dong Nai, and Nghe Anprovinces, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’sForest Management Department.
The Government has adopted several policiesaimed at preserving the elephant herd, including a master plan for 2013-2020. –VNA
VNA
