Nghe An struggles to deal with wild elephant preservation

Farmers in the central province of Nghe An are worried about wild elephants which have
returned to nd foods at their elds over the last couple of days. A group of wild elephants
from Pu Mat National Forest come to eat sugar cane in Anh Son District, Nghe An Province
in March, 2014. Photo by NTV On November 3, a group of five elephants from Pu Mat

National Forest arrived in Bai Da Village in Anh Son District and damaged a cajeput field.
Local people have had to hang out lights to the cornfields
and around their homes to chase
the animals. To prevent wild elephants from residential areas, a five-kilometre
fence was
installed two years ago but this did not help much. “The village is big and the elephants are
still coming from other directions,” the village’s head, Nguyen Van Chau, said. “Elephants
often come at the end of the year which is also the harvest season of sugar cane and other
crops.” According to a local man, Nguyen Van Thanh, 48, the wild elephants have appeared in
his village every year for over the past 10 years and are becoming fiercer.
“Before we only
needed the gongs and lights to chase them away,” Thanh said. “But now it seems that they
are not afraid of such things anymore. They even attack us.” Explaining for the elephants
becoming fiercer,
director of the Pu Mat National Forest, Tran Xuan Cuong, said that many
areas in Anh Son District used to…

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Dong Nai adds more electric fences to protect wild elephants

Dong Nai Province will add more than 20km of electric fence to minimise conflicts between wild elephants and residents in the area.

The Department of Planning and Investment has been working with various units to evaluate the project.

The new fences, which are 20km in length, will extend from Dinh Quan District to Vinh Cuu District. The investment of VNĐ20 billion (US$867) was sourced from state and local budgets.

According to Dong Nai Province’s Forest Department, a herd of 16 elephants has damaged crops and orchards in Dinh Quan District 35 times since the beginning of the year.

Nguyen Viet Phuc, a farmer in Dinh Quan District, said six wild elephants had destroyed his banana crop in only one night.

Due to conflicts between wild elephants and people, a 50-km electric fence was erected from Dinh Quan District to Vinh Cuu District in July last year with capital of VNĐ85 billion (US$3.75 million).

The 50km electric fence is part of the elephant conservation project which began in 2104 and will end in 2020.

However, the former electric fence has yet to separate residential areas and farming areas from natural forests where wild elephants live.

Le Viet Dung, deputy head of Dong Nai Province’s Forest Protection, said that two herds of wild elephants exist in the area. Each of them has six to seven animals per herd.

The elephants have moved along the area of the fence to the end of the fence, destroying farmer’s crops and houses, he added. —

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Dong Nai: Electric fence does little to deter hungry elephants

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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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

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The men who love and take care of elephants in the Central Highlands

VietNamNet Bridge – The members of the Dak Lak Elephant Conservation Center are all “amateurs” as they were never professionally trained to take care of elephants. However, their love for and understanding of the animals is well known. Workers at the conservation center are taking care for elephants At the center, Pham Van Thinh, head of the “tamed elephant” conservation division, is called ‘Mr tamed elephant’, while Do Viet Thu, head of the wild elephant conservation division, is called ‘Mr wild elephant’.Decreasing numbers Wild elephants are getting aggressive, and damaging crops fields and houses because the forests, their habitat, are increasingly occupied by humans. Wild elephants are getting aggressive, and damaging crops fields and houses because the forests, their habitat, are increasingly occupied by humans. RELATED NEWS Elephants continue to damage crops as conservation project remains on paper

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Electric fence not enough to protect elephants: experts

ĐỒNG NAI — While the erection of an electric fence has proven effective in resolving conflicts between wild elephants and people in this southeastern province, it is not a long-term solution, experts said.
 
According to Đồng Nai Province’s Forest Protection Sub-Department, a herd of 16 elephants lives on some 42,600ha of land belonging to Cát Tiên National Park, Đồng Nai Natural and Cultural 

Reservation Centre and La Ngà Plantation. In the past, conflicts between local farmers and wild elephants occurred regularly as the animals would approach residential areas and destroy local crops and orchards.
 
However, since the launch of the elephant conservation project in 2014, conflicts have decreased substantially.
 
Feeling secure with the installation of an electric fence, local residents have been proactive in investing in their gardens and fields and gaining large profits, VOV.vn reported.


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Tokyo woman, 77, leads charge to save elephants in Vietnam forest

Ethnic minority people and elephants have been living happily together like a family since back in the day in Vietnam's Yok Don National Park.

Elephants have been a great help for these people by carrying timber and doing farm work.

The biodiverse forest is also a home for wild elephants.

However, after the Vietnam War ended in 1975, many of the trees have been cut down to boost economic growth by harvesting timber.

Rampant elephant poaching for ivory is also threatening to wipe out one of the largest and most beautiful creatures on the planet.

A 77-year-old Japanese woman is inspiring local residents to protect the mammals.

“Destroying forests where elephants live will imperil human lives as well,"says Yoko Niimura, a former elementary school teacher who lives in Tokyo’s Kokubunji and has visited Vietnam since 2002 with the aim of protecting the elephants living in the Yok Don Forest.

Yok Don Forest, which straddles between Dak Lak province and Dak Nong province, is located in the heart of the nation.

It is believed that around 1,500 to 2,000 wild elephants lived in Dak Lak between 1975 to 1980, but the number had plunged to between 76 and 94 in 2004.

Niimura’s passion to protect elephants began after she encountered an elephant during a trip to Vietnam to take photographs after she had retired.

She was fascinated by the elephant striding strongly but calmly while carrying a mahout on its back.

She started taking photos of elephants and became aware of the harsh reality of the shrinking population of the animal, which have faced a risk of dying out.

She published a photo story book about the elephants in 2006 and established “Yok Don no Mori no kai,” a group to protect the creatures in the forest, in 2009.

The book was translated into Vietnamese by the group and 1,000 copies were donated to local children.

When she first set up the group to help the elephants, local people were not that bothered about their decline.

But now in the Yok Don Forest, an elephant conservation center has been established to protect elephants injured through poaching and to safeguard young elephants that have lost their parents.

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Mysterious herd of elephants marches out of hiding in southern Vietnam

A previously unseen herd of elephants has been spotted in Vietnam's southern province of Dong Nai, according to forest management officials.

While it’s great news for conservation efforts, it could be a curse on the family of 15, which includes four calves.

Officials believe that this herd has never been seen before, because the herd they have been tracking in recent years is led by a different male and only has one or two calves.

There’s low chance that the animals have given birth to more calves in such a short time, they said.

The news of the herd has been covered widely by local media and hailed as good news for conservation efforts.

But officials familiar with wildlife protection in Vietnam said it's not always a blessing. Media coverage about incidents like this helps to raise awareness about the need for protection, but it also alerts poachers to the animals’ location.

Dong Nai started a VND74 billion ($3.25 million) project in 2013 to protect the giant animals from poaching and deadly encounters with farmers.

Part of the project is an electric fence erected three months ago to keep them away from farmland and residential areas. Officials said the fence only gives a slight shock to scare the animals and does not harm them.

Nine elephants have died in the province in the past seven years, and one person was killed during an encounter with the giant mammals.

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 a major threat to their survival.

The U.S. government has pledged $24 million to help protect Vietnam’s last remaining elephants by conserving their habitat.

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Hungry wild elephants hurt domestic ones

Shrinking and degrading wild elephant habitats in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak have led to a shortage of food and more conflicts between wild and domestic animals, according to Director of the Dak Lak Elephant Conservation Centre Huynh Trung Luan.

Degrading wild elephant habitats in Dak Lak province have led to a shortage of food and more conflicts between wild and domestic animals.

The locality has witnessed five conflicts between wild and domestic elephants since March. The wild animals, in group of six to seven, have reportedly been approaching forest ranger stations and residential areas to search for food and attack domestic ones. They hurt seven animals of the centre and killed another in Krong Na commune, Buon Don district.hungr

Luan said that when wild elephants enter the stage called “musth”, they will become more aggressive and hurt others for the right to mate with females.

In a bid to reduce the clashes, the centre has ordered elephant keepers and tourism businesses to enhance measures to protect their animals. Elephants should be cared and protected at home, the centre recommended.

The number of domestic animals in the province drops dramatically to 43 individuals from 502 in 1980. The herd of domestic elephants is facing the threat of extinction as many of them are no longer fertile.

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Wild and tame elephants in Đắk Lắk’s clash for food

There have been at least five clashes recently between wild elephants in search of food and tame elephants in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk’s Buôn Đôn District.

Most recently, on Monday, a herd with seven wild elephants attacked and injured two tame elephants at Forest Management Station No. 6 in Yok Đôn National Forest.

Huỳnh Trung Luân, director of the provincial Elephant Preservation Centre, said on Thursday that statistics with the centre from March till date shows the five conflicts occurred as wild elephants have been coming closer to human inhabitations such as forest management stations and local residents’ fields in search of food. So far, seven tame elephants have been injured, and one has died.

Luân said this problem is the result of the decline in forest area; wild elephants move towards inhabitations as they cannot find sufficient food in the forests. Another reason is that when wild male elephants are in rut, they are very violent and they attack the tame male elephants to get access to the females.

To reduce such conflicts, the centre has asked the tame elephants’ owners and tourism businesses using tame elephants to take steps to protect their elephants better, and not let their elephants wander into areas where wild elephants are typically spotted. Also, the tame elephants should not be chained in the forest in the evening, instead they should be brought home and protected, Luân said.
If there are such conflicts, residents should report the incident to the centre or local authorities who can step in and drive away the wild herds safely.

In the past few decades, the number of tame elephants in Đắk Lắk has seen a serious decline, from 502 in 1980 to the current 43. The main reason for this is that the number of tame elephants that bear a calf is few. At present, one female elephant is pregnant and expected to deliver next month, a positive sign as this is the first time in 30 years that a tame elephant in the province will bear a calf.
The Đắk Lắk Elephant Preservation Centre has joined hands with foreign experts to create conducive conditions for female elephants to bear calves.

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Dong Nai tests electric fence to protect elephants

A 50km long electric fence has been put into operation on a trial basis to prevent wild elephants from wandering into residential areas in the southern province of Dong Nai, according to the provincial Forest Protection Sub-Department.

The 2.2m high electric fence runs across Vinh Cuu district’s Ma Da and Phu Ly communes and Dinh Quan district’s Thanh Son commune,. 

Electricity is regularly switched on and off every one third of a second, which helps keep the elephants at bay while not inflicting harm on them.

Along the fence there are many gates for local residents to pass through.

The fence was built at total cost of 85 billion VND (3.7 million USD) sourced from state and local budgets.

Dong Nai province’s forest is currently home to about 15 wild elephants. In recent years, there have been increasing conflicts between local farmers and wild elephants as the animals approached residential areas and destroyed local crops and orchards. In the past seven years, nine wild elephants died and one person was killed by elephants.

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Joint efforts called for to protect last wild elephants in Vietnam

No single country or individual could put an end to illegal wildlife trade, but joint international efforts should be made to prevent wildlife crimes and protect the elephant species in the centuries ahead, US Ambassador to Vietnam, Ted Osius, has said

The diplomat made the statement while addressing a talk held by the US Embassy in Hanoi, on August 11, in response to World Elephant day (August 12), under the theme “Please treat elephants well”.

In attendance at the event were Nguyen Dao Ngoc Van and Alegria Olmedo from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Rose Indenbaum from TRAFFIC, and Nguyen Thi Phuong Dung from Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV).

During the talk, delegates called for greater attention to elephants and their difficult living conditions, whilst discussing possible ways to preserve the last 100 wild elephants that remain in Vietnam.

The event enabled participants to understand more about the ways in which they could tackle the threats to elephants, through voluntarily joining wildlife organisations, supporting wildlife preservation efforts and raising awareness of the elephants’ struggle for survival.

Earlier on August 10, the US Embassy screened a film entitled “Ivory Game”, a documentary film featuring illegal elephant ivory trade, from the moment the elephant was poached in Africa to the moment when the elephant ivories were sold illegally in Asia.

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Joint efforts called for to protect last wild elephants in Vietnam

The diplomat made the statement while addressing a talk held by the US Embassy in Hanoi, on August 11, in response to World Elephant day (August 12), under the theme “Please treat elephants well”.

In attendance at the event were Nguyen Dao Ngoc Van and Alegria Olmedo from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Rose Indenbaum from TRAFFIC, and Nguyen Thi Phuong Dung from Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV).

During the talk, delegates called for greater attention to elephants and their difficult living conditions, whilst discussing possible ways to preserve the last 100 wild elephants that remain in Vietnam.

The event enabled participants to understand more about the ways in which they could tackle the threats to elephants, through voluntarily joining wildlife organisations, supporting wildlife preservation efforts and raising awareness of the elephants’ struggle for survival.

Earlier on August 10, the US Embassy screened a film entitled “Ivory Game”, a documentary film featuring illegal elephant ivory trade, from the moment the elephant was poached in Africa to the moment when the elephant ivories were sold illegally in Asia.

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Dong Nai tests electric fence to protect elephants

A 50km long electric fence has been put into operation on a trial basis to prevent wild elephants from wandering into residential areas in Dong Nai province. (Photo: dantri.com.vn)

Dong Nai (VNA) – A 50km long electric fence has been put into
operation on a trial basis to prevent wild elephants from wandering into
residential areas in the southern province of Dong Nai, according to the
provincial Forest Protection Sub-Department.

The 2.2m high electric fence runs across Vinh Cuu district’s Ma Da and Phu Ly
communes and Dinh Quan district’s Thanh Son commune,.

Electricity is regularly switched on and off every one third of a second, which
helps keep the elephants at bay while not inflicting harm on them.

Along the fence there are many gates for local residents to pass through.

The fence was built at total cost of 85 billion VND (3.7 million USD) sourced
from state and local budgets.

Dong Nai province’s forest is currently home to about 15 wild elephants. In
recent years, there have been increasing conflicts between local farmers and
wild elephants as the animals approached residential areas and destroyed local
crops and orchards. In the past seven years, nine wild elephants died and one
person was killed by elephants.-VNA

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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.”

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Elephant tusks, leopard skins smuggled from Africa to Vietnam

Vietnamese customs officers on Sunday spotted elephant tusks and tails, leopard skins, and wild animals' claws in the luggage of an old local woman who flied from an African country to Ho Chi Minh City.

Checking the personal luggage of a 65-year-old passenger who landed at the Tan Son Nhat international airport, the officers found nearly four kg of elephant tusks, nine elephant tails, three leopard skins and many claws, the municipal Customs Department said, noting that the smuggled items are valued at over 2 billion Vietnamese dong (some 90,000 U.S. dollars).

Over the past four weeks, the airport's customs officers detected several cases of smuggling rhino horns, elephant tusks and pangolin scales worth over 10 billion Vietnamese dong (nearly 450,000 U.S. dollars) from Africa to the city.

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Dong Nai farmers lose crops due to wild elephants

Farmers in the southern province of Dong Nai are complaining about their crops being damaged by a large herd of hungry wild elephants.

According to forest rangers in Dinh Quan District, a herd of between 12-15 wild elephants made some 7-8 visits to 28 farms between February and March this year and destroyed everything there, despite the efforts of local farmers to chase them away.

A local farmer, Nguyen Van Khoi, said wild elephants ate up over 400 banana trees which are valued at VND40 million (USD1.764) in just one night on March 10.

“My bananas were all nearly ripe and we had expected a large crop but then we lost everything in a single night,” Khoi said.


Another farmer, Ngo Quang Truong complained about dozens of 10-year-old cashew trees together with many farming tools being destroyed by the elephants.

Farmer Do Van Dinh suffered the biggest losses with a three-hectare farm with 1,500 banana trees, 300 black pepper trees, among others totally destroyed when the hungry wild animals came out of the forest to seek for food.

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Elephants die of starvation in Vietnamese forests

Several elephants that were used to serve tourists in central highlands Dak Lak Province have died for unknown reasons while grazing in the forest.

Tourist elephant found dead in forests
On June 27, the Dak Lak Elephant Conservation Centre said local people had found the body of an elephant at the Yon Don National Park in Buon Don District. The elephant’s body was already decomposing.

After investigation, local authorities in Buon Don District found that the dead elephant was a 40-year-old female named H’Yaly. It is under the management of Y Bich Nie, a local man from Krong Na Commune’s EaMar Highlands Village.

The elephant is estimated to have been dead for around one month. No injuries were found on the body. It’s likely that the elephant died of starvation.

The elephant’s owner, Y Bich, said, “I released the elephant to the forest to graze on May 30. However, it had not returned by June 24, so we decided to go into the forest to look for it. There we found its body.”

According to him, an H’Yaly elephant is estimated to be worth VND400 million (USD18,788) and his family has signed an elephant tourism service contract with Ban Don Tourism Centre.

In 2012, another elephant owned by Y Bich also died for unknown reasons.

In April 2014, a 62-year-old male elephant from Ho Lak Tourism Area was also found dead near a local lake after being released to graze.

Authorities are still investigating before pronouncing any official cause of the animals’ deaths.

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Starving elephants go on rampage

Lack of food has caused wild elephants in Nghe An Province to trample through a number of villages recently.

Nghe An is one of three provinces with the largest population of wild elephants in Vietnam. Still, the species is on the brink of extinction, with only about 17 elephants in the province.

In 2011, a small herd of elephants killed a villager in Luc Da Commune when the man tried to chase them away. In 2013, the elephants destroyed crops in Phuc Son Commune and killed a villager who crossed their path. In March six elephants were foraging in Cao Veu 3 Village and destroyed 10ha of sugarcane and other crops.

Local people said more and more elephants have stampeded because forestland is decreasing, causing food shortages.

Nguyen Huu Minh, chairman of Phuc Son Commune People’s Committee said, “We have transferred 4,000 ha of forestland to a company for a rubber plantation. This area had bamboo and banana trees, which provide food of the elephants. Without a food source, the elephants are beginning to come into villages.”

The elephants are also threatened by poachers. There are now three herds living in Nghe An Province. According to the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources’ reports on elephants in Pu Mat National Park, since 1995 at least nine elephants were shot or killed by dynamite.

The people of Phuc Son used dynamite to kill three elephants when they stampede the village in 1996. A few years later, two elephants were found dead without their tusks. Another elephant was killed for its tusks in 2011. The director of Pu Mat National Park said the elephants are still reproducing, but without proper protection mature elephants will continue to be killed.

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Wild elephants spotted in Quang Nam

Tran Van Sang, Chairman of Nong Son District’s Que Lam People’s Committee, said that many people in Cam La Village saw the elephants near their fields after the Tet holiday. They shot a short video clip and took photos of the elephants to report their presence to local authorities.

The herd, which includes a small elephant, has been seen in Cam La Village’s forest area many times, worrying people.

Sang said that the commune warned local people not to bother the elephants.

They are also provided with some skills to safely drive the elephants away.

According to the Vietnam Administration of Forestry, Nong Son District is one of 15 areas in the country that still have populations of wild elephants. Earlier, Quang Nam Province submitted a proposal to the administration to establish an elephant conservation site in the district, aiming to help conserve the wild population and reduce human-elephant conflicts.

The Vietnam Administration of Forestry’s Environment Conservation Department said that wild elephant population in Vietnam has been on the fall because of loss of habitat and poaching.

In natural forests, there is not enough food for them to survive and so they have to move to the surrounding cultivated areas to forage for food, sparking off conflicts with humans, he said.

The department estimates that there are around 100 wild elephants in the country.

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