Hà Tĩnh wants urgent protection measures for elephants

HÀ TĨNH — Authorities in the central province of Hà Tĩnh have recommended the formation of a project for the urgent protection of elephants in the province’s Vũ Quang National Park.

The Hà Tĩnh People’s Committee sent a proposal to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Việt Nam Administration of Forestry earlier this week recommending urgent measures to protect the elephants in the park from harm by humans.

National parks in the country are all controlled by the ministry and the administration.

According to the proposal, camera traps in the park photographed two herds of elephants several times, each with at least four elephants. Those pictures helped to prove the existence of elephants inside the park’s territory.

Habitats for elephants are narrowing year after year due to construction revamping forest land and the impacts of climate change, the proposal says. The elephants also face dangers from illegal poaching and attacks by angry nearby residents when they leave the jungle to find food.

The committee suggested a project lasting from 2019 to 2025 to implement urgent initial measures for the protection of the elephants as well as to recover their habitat.

Earlier, the national park conducted projects to collect genes of elephants and other species sharing the same habitats. The park has also worked to prevent conflicts between elephants and nearby residents as well as to stop poaching and illegal logging in the area’s elephant habitats.

According to a previous report by the administration, there were 75 to 130 elephants remaining along the border between Laos and Việt Nam. An updated report on the total number of elephants has yet to come.

The main habitat areas of elephants in the country are Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Nam and Đồng Nai. — VNS

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://vietnamnews.vn/environment/481895/ha-tinh-wants-urgent-protection-measures-for-elephants.html#2xRzYWW0tHv52cOG.97

Wild elephants destroyed a vast area of local crops.

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

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
http://news.24honline.net/wild-elephants-destroyed-a-vast-area-of-local-crops.html