Elephant Herds Face Further Danger in Vietnam
8/9/99
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Title: Elephant Herds Face Further Danger in Vietnam
Source: South China Morning Post
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 9, 1999
Byline: Huw Watkin
Conservation groups have warned that continued deforestation will put
further pressure on Vietnam's already endangered wild elephant
population and lead to increased confrontation between the beasts and
farmers.
Hungry elephants have reportedly killed at least eight people in two
south-central provinces in the past three months, while hundreds of
hectares of crops and orchards have been destroyed in central and
southern Vietnam.
Huynh Thu Ba of the World Wide Fund for Nature said the future of the
species was further threatened as machinery had largely replaced the
elephant in Vietnam's logging industry.
"It is now very rare to find domesticated elephants. Logs are hauled
by machines so they are no longer seen as so important," Ms Ba said.
But she said the biggest threat to the species - and the principle
reason why more people were being killed by rampaging elephants - was
the rapid destruction of their natural habitat.
It is unknown exactly how many wild elephants remain, but recently
released figures reveal that deforestation has reduced their forest
habitat by 30 per cent in the past 15 years.
Authorities in southern Dac Lac province - where more than 74,000
hectares of forest have been cut down to make way for coffee
plantations since 1996 - are currently monitoring three small herds
totalling 20 animals which have consumed 25 hectares of rice and
destroyed several houses during the past week.
According to the Lao Dong newspaper, the crops had been planted after
areas of forest close to the Laos border were cleared during last
year's dry season.
"We believe herds have specific ranges in which they browse for food,
and when those areas are encroached upon by people, it's inevitable
that elephants will attack crops," Ms Ba said.