Dong Nai (VNA) – The 50km electric fence stretching across Vinh Cuu and Dinh Quan district in the southern province of Dong Nai has been unable to prevent wild elephants from looking for food in local farms.
According to the provincial Forest Protection Sub-department, since the beginning of the year, groups of wild elephants pushed past the fence, destroying a vast area of crops and orchard gardens and causing critical losses to local people.
Currently, two herds of elephants, with some six individuals each, are settled near the end of the electric fence, regularly approaching residential areas and trampling over their farming, said Le Viet Dung, deputy head of the department.
Dung said that 50km is not long enough, and that there is still space along the corridor between the residential area and wild elephants’ original habitat.
Conflicts between the elephants and people in Dong Nai province have been intensifying over recent years. The electric fence was erected in the locality as part of the Government’s project on urgent conservation of wild elephants in Dong Nai for 2014-2020.
The fence uses solar energy and a low voltage of 4.5-14 kV. Electricity is switched on and off frequently every third of a second, which helps keep the elephants at bay without inflicting harm on them.
Along the fence, there are many gates for local residents to pass through.
The fence, which was put into operation in July last year, initially prevented wild elephants from wandering into the residential areas of some 50,000 people in Vinh Cuu and Dinh Quan districts. Dung added that the fence has protected 16,000ha of forest land and orchard gardens.
The local Forest Protection Sub-department is asking the provincial People’s Committee and the Vietnam Administration of Forestry to allow construction of an additional 20km of electric fence at an estimated cost of 20 billion VND (880,000 USD).
Dong Nai province is home to some 14-16 wild elephants that are classified as endangered Asian animals in need of protection.-VNA
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Welcome to Elephant News Vietnam. This site is intended to be a public service to those wishing to keep up to date with events and issues affecting elephants in Vietnam.
Showing posts with label elephant habitat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elephant habitat. Show all posts
Monday, July 30, 2018
Sunday, September 10, 2017
US pledges $24 million to protect Vietnam's last remaining elephants
Keeping people away from the giant mammals and their habitat is the only chance they have of survival.
The U.S. government has promised $24 million to the central province of Quang Nam to support elephant conservation efforts after multiple sightings of what is thought to be the last remaining herd left in the wild.
The money will be directed through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Ambassador Ted Osius said during a visit to the rural province on Thursday to attend the agriculture ministry’s opening of an elephant reserve.
The reserve covers nearly 19,000 hectares (47,000 acres) in Nong Son District, where elephants and their tracks have been spotted many times in recent years.
Since 2011, locals have been reporting sightings of elephants, some alive and others killed by poachers, as well as their footprints.
In 2015, when Quang Nam was zoned off to become part of an urgent elephant conservation program, a team of experts arrived and reported a herd of seven elephants with male, female and juvenile members.
A similar herd was spotted near houses on the edge of the forest in January and July this year.
“On one occasion, the elephants were just 50 meters from us. Their trumpeting was as loud as truck horns,” a local man said.
To read the full article, click on the story title
The U.S. government has promised $24 million to the central province of Quang Nam to support elephant conservation efforts after multiple sightings of what is thought to be the last remaining herd left in the wild.
The money will be directed through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Ambassador Ted Osius said during a visit to the rural province on Thursday to attend the agriculture ministry’s opening of an elephant reserve.
The reserve covers nearly 19,000 hectares (47,000 acres) in Nong Son District, where elephants and their tracks have been spotted many times in recent years.
Since 2011, locals have been reporting sightings of elephants, some alive and others killed by poachers, as well as their footprints.
In 2015, when Quang Nam was zoned off to become part of an urgent elephant conservation program, a team of experts arrived and reported a herd of seven elephants with male, female and juvenile members.
A similar herd was spotted near houses on the edge of the forest in January and July this year.
“On one occasion, the elephants were just 50 meters from us. Their trumpeting was as loud as truck horns,” a local man said.
To read the full article, click on the story title
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Giant electric fence shocks wild elephants away from farmland in southern Vietnam
Vietnam’s southern province of Dong Nai is looking to end clashes between farmers and elephants by keeping the animals at bay with electric fences.
Government officials in the province, which neighbors Saigon, have installed an electric fence that runs 50 kilometers (31 miles) as a barrier between local farms and residential areas and the elephants.
The fence has been in place for more than a month, and can release an electric charge of between 4.5 and 14 kilovolts, they said.
“The elephants tend to return to the jungle when they encounter the fence,” said Le Viet Dung, deputy chief of Dong Nai’s Forest Management Department.
Dung said the fence only emmits a short charge for a third of the second, which is not enough to harm the animals.
“It only scares the elephants and keeps them away,” he said.
The fence is part of a VND74 billion ($3.25 million) project started in 2013 aimed at protecting the giant beasts and avoiding deadly encounters with farmers.
According to figures from conservation organizations, Vietnam’s wild elephant population has shrunk by 95 percent since 1975 to less than 100. At least 23 wild elephants have died over the past seven years, and nearly 75 percent of them were less than a year old.
Experts said that plantations near their natural habitats are the biggest threat to their survival. The same problem has been reported in Yok Don Park in the Central Highlands, which is home to the largest group of wild elephants in Vietnam.
Van Ngoc Thinh, director of WWF Vietnam, said in a statement in December: “The big animals need a giant habitat, but theirs has become narrow and unsafe.”
Please credit and share this article with others using this link:https://m.vietmaz.com/2017/08/giant-electric-fence-shocks-wild-elephants-away-from-farmland-in-southern-vietnam/
Government officials in the province, which neighbors Saigon, have installed an electric fence that runs 50 kilometers (31 miles) as a barrier between local farms and residential areas and the elephants.
The fence has been in place for more than a month, and can release an electric charge of between 4.5 and 14 kilovolts, they said.
“The elephants tend to return to the jungle when they encounter the fence,” said Le Viet Dung, deputy chief of Dong Nai’s Forest Management Department.
Dung said the fence only emmits a short charge for a third of the second, which is not enough to harm the animals.
“It only scares the elephants and keeps them away,” he said.
The fence is part of a VND74 billion ($3.25 million) project started in 2013 aimed at protecting the giant beasts and avoiding deadly encounters with farmers.
According to figures from conservation organizations, Vietnam’s wild elephant population has shrunk by 95 percent since 1975 to less than 100. At least 23 wild elephants have died over the past seven years, and nearly 75 percent of them were less than a year old.
Experts said that plantations near their natural habitats are the biggest threat to their survival. The same problem has been reported in Yok Don Park in the Central Highlands, which is home to the largest group of wild elephants in Vietnam.
Van Ngoc Thinh, director of WWF Vietnam, said in a statement in December: “The big animals need a giant habitat, but theirs has become narrow and unsafe.”
Please credit and share this article with others using this link:https://m.vietmaz.com/2017/08/giant-electric-fence-shocks-wild-elephants-away-from-farmland-in-southern-vietnam/
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Quang Nam province to spend over VND128 billion for elephant conservation
The Quang Nam provincial People’s Committee has adopted the establishment of an elephant conservation project on an area of nearly 19,000 hectares in Phuoc Ninh and Que Lam communes, Nong Son district.
Accordingly, the conservation area includes 23 sub-zones, including over 13,400 hectares of strict protection, over 5,500 hectares of the ecological recovery, and nearly 25,000 hectares of buffer zone, which lies in 22 villages in 5 districts.
Le Tri Thanh, Vice Chairman of the Quang Nam provincial People’s Committee, stressed that the establishment of the elephant conservation aims to conserve and develop the Asian elephant species in Vietnam, contributing to realizing the Government’s targets in protecting the environment and biodiversity, and sustainably developing wildlife resources.
Quang Nam province plans to protect, maintain and develop a population of 5-7 elephant individuals living in the locality, safeguard their living habitat, and restore and develop living environment and food to receive single elephant individuals from other areas.
The project will use over VND128 billion until 2030./.
Please credit and share this article with others using this link:https://m.vietnambreakingnews.com/2017/03/quang-nam-province-to-spend-over-vnd128-billion-for-elephant-conservation/
Accordingly, the conservation area includes 23 sub-zones, including over 13,400 hectares of strict protection, over 5,500 hectares of the ecological recovery, and nearly 25,000 hectares of buffer zone, which lies in 22 villages in 5 districts.
Le Tri Thanh, Vice Chairman of the Quang Nam provincial People’s Committee, stressed that the establishment of the elephant conservation aims to conserve and develop the Asian elephant species in Vietnam, contributing to realizing the Government’s targets in protecting the environment and biodiversity, and sustainably developing wildlife resources.
Quang Nam province plans to protect, maintain and develop a population of 5-7 elephant individuals living in the locality, safeguard their living habitat, and restore and develop living environment and food to receive single elephant individuals from other areas.
The project will use over VND128 billion until 2030./.
Please credit and share this article with others using this link:https://m.vietnambreakingnews.com/2017/03/quang-nam-province-to-spend-over-vnd128-billion-for-elephant-conservation/
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