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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Elephants die of starvation in Vietnamese

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

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.”

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Experts emphasize elephant conservation

VietNamNet Bridge – Only around 100 wild elephants, and an additional 60 in captivity, remain in Viet Nam, with most living in Dak Lak, Dong Nai and Nghe An provinces, a conference on elephant conservation heard on Wednesday.

At the three-day event in the Central Highland province of Dak Lak, which ends on Friday, the Viet Nam Administration of Forestry said elephants in the country face a high risk of extinction. According to the agency, the natural habitat for elephants is diminishing; resulting in an increased number of clashes between the animals and humans, while the poaching of elephants for their tusks continues. The domesticated elephants are aging and not a single one has reproduced over the last few years.

To address the situation, the Vietnamese Government has issued several policies aimed at preserving the domestic elephant herd, including a master plan for 2013-2020.

Deputy Director General of the Viet Nam Administration of Forestry, Cao Chi Cong, said he hoped managers and experts would share their experiences and propose solutions to protect and develop the elephant population in Viet Nam.

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Vietnam's Elephants on the Brink of Extinction

A conservation center in Dak Lak province in the Central Highlands may be Vietnam's last hope to save its elephants.

AFP reports on the Dak Lak Elephant Conservation Center, which aims to create a small herd of elephants in order to build a sustainable population.

According to the news source, the country's elephant population is an extremely precarious position. Fewer than 100 animals remain in the wild, while around 80 are in captivity. In 1980, up to 2,000 elephants roamed the country, National Geographic shares.

Tuan Bendixsen, director of Animals Asia Vietnam, tells AFP that "at the rate they're going now, within a generation or so we'll probably lose the elephants."

He goes on: "As the number gets smaller and smaller, it's going to be harder and harder for the elephants to hang on."

Human development has cut off breeding routes for the wild pachyderms, severely hurting their ability to reproduce, the news source reports, while poaching and habitat loss have wiped out most of the population. Even captive elephants struggle to breed since they spend their days chained up waiting to serve tourists.

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Dutch vet seeks to save near-extinct elephants in Vietnam

A seasoned veterinarian from the Netherlands has been a lifelong ally of the shrinking herd of elephants in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

Dr. Willem Schaftenarr, 63, has been a household name among elephant conservationists, mahouts, and the pachyderms themselves in Ban Don (Don Village), which is nestled in the namesake district in Dak Lak Province.

Ban Don is now a popular destination for domestic and foreign tourists because of its elephant population, often used as a means of transport in some tour packages, as well as raced during traditional festivals.

Data shows that the domestic elephant population of Dak Lak experienced a sharp decline from 500 in 1980 to just 43 in March 2016.

Among these, only 16 out of 25 females are under 40 years old, an age when elephants typically stop reproducing.

Dr. Schaftenarr has visited the village three times over the past few years to help local caretakers and doctors treat diseases and injuries on the last tame elephants in an effort to prevent them from dying out altogether.

He has also passed on his knowledge and experience to his Vietnamese colleagues at the Dak Lak Elephant Conservation Center. It is their job to safeguard and repopulate the dwindling domestic herd, overcoming the threat of rampant poaching and poor fertility in the female animals.

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