Dak Lak approves 3 million USD elephant project

The Dak Lak People's Committee has approved a 60 billion VND (3 million USD) project to protect elephants in Vietnam's central highlands.

Some forest will be set aside for wild elephants and habitats created for domesticated elephants, explained senior park ranger Y Rit Bya.

A veterinary clinic will be established to provide medical care and help with breeding, he said.

Elephants are mostly distributed in the Buon Don, Ea Sup and Ea H'Leo districts on about 160,000 ha which would be needed as a sanctuary for the species, a survey by Tay Nguyen University shows.

But human encroachment is diminishing the effectiveness of the sanctuary.

Park rangers have identified a wild elephant which killed a teenager in Dong Nai province's Dinh Quan district on Nov. 7.

The rangers said the elephant had heavily damaged crops when it rampaged through the fields of the Vinh Cuu district's Phu Ly Commune last year.

But the animal, which has now re-appeared many kilometres away, has not been homicidal.

Phu Ly commune Do Xuan Tinh resident said that he had encountered the animal once while returning from the forest in the late evening.

"I stiffened with fear," he said.

"But the beast approached me gradually and tickled me with his trunk. He then gave way to me."

The ranger's say the teenager's death was the first to an elephant in 10 years./.

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Frozen wild animals found, elephant slashed for tusks

Police in the northern province of Thanh Hoa announced the seizure of a truckload of frozen wild animals and their horns on Monday.

The truck was carrying ten panthers and one copperhead in addition to 15 deer and giraffe horns.

Driver Le Anh Dung from the nearby Nghe An Province said he was transporting the animals for an illegal wildlife dealer named Tran Thi Duong, 37, investigators alleged.

Duong said she was shipping the animals to a glue maker in Thanh Hoa, according to authorities.

Also on Monday, a domesticated elephant in Dak Lak Province was found covered in hundreds of heavy lacerations along a local river. Its tail was almost removed and the hindlegs had been baldy burned.

Nguyen Tru, Chairman of the Thanh Ha Eco-Tourism Company which owns the elephant, said thieves must have seized the animal for its 70 centimeter tusks.

Tru imagines that the thieves abused the animal to wear it down so they could remove the tusks. The animal is still alive and in bad shape, he said.

Six months ago Tru reported that some people had tried to electrocute the elephant to take its tusks, but it managed to escape.

Vietnam has banned all manner of wildlife poaching.

However, widespread commercial demand for animal parts (mostly for dubious health tonics and medicines), has rendered the ban ineffective.

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Frozen wild animals found, elephant slashed for tusks

Police in the northern province of Thanh Hoa announced the seizure of a truckload of frozen wild animals and their horns on Monday.

The truck was carrying ten panthers and one copperhead in addition to 15 deer and giraffe horns.

Driver Le Anh Dung from the nearby Nghe An Province said he was transporting the animals for an illegal wildlife dealer named Tran Thi Duong, 37, investigators alleged.

Duong said she was shipping the animals to a glue maker in Thanh Hoa, according to authorities.

Also on Monday, a domesticated elephant in Dak Lak Province was found covered in hundreds of heavy lacerations along a local river. Its tail was almost removed and the hindlegs had been baldy burned.

Nguyen Tru, Chairman of the Thanh Ha Eco-Tourism Company which owns the elephant, said thieves must have seized the animal for its 70 centimeter tusks.

Tru imagines that the thieves abused the animal to wear it down so they could remove the tusks. The animal is still alive and in bad shape, he said.

Six months ago Tru reported that some people had tried to electrocute the elephant to take its tusks, but it managed to escape.

Vietnam has banned all manner of wildlife poaching.

However, widespread commercial demand for animal parts (mostly for dubious health tonics and medicines), has rendered the ban ineffective.

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Police arrest suspect elephant poachers

Four men have been detained for allegedly attacking elephants and taking their tusks and tails to sell for ornamental or medicinal purposes.

Police in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak have taken into custody Le Viet Dung, 34, of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province; Pham Van Huy, 31, of Dong Nai Province; and Dam Van Noi, 24, and Y Bia Hwing, 21, of Dak Lak Province.

Hwing, who used to be an elephant tamer, was in charge of luring the elephants before the other men attacked them with electrical-shock instruments.

Police believed the group were involved in killing one elephant, cutting the tail off another one, and pulling out the tail hairs of three others at Dang Van Long's elephant farm in Lak District in the province.

Police said the group might also be involved in several other cases of cutting and pulling out hairs of elephants in Lak District and the Ban Don Eco-tourism zone.

They also seized a knife, a handmade system for electrical shock and 90 pieces of elephant tail hairs.

Local authorities said the number of local elephants dropped from 166 in 1998 to around 50 this year because of sudden deaths and human attacks.

Long said the elephant whose tail was cut off would die if it received improper care.

Many markets in the province sell elephant skins which are used to treat stomachaches.

National laws prohibit hunting and killing elephants, but they do not explicitly state that the selling of elephant skin is illegal.

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Police arrest suspect elephant poachers

Four men have been detained for allegedly attacking elephants and taking their tusks and tails to sell for ornamental or medicinal purposes.

Police in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak have taken into custody Le Viet Dung, 34, of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province; Pham Van Huy, 31, of Dong Nai Province; and Dam Van Noi, 24, and Y Bia Hwing, 21, of Dak Lak Province.

Hwing, who used to be an elephant tamer, was in charge of luring the elephants before the other men attacked them with electrical-shock instruments.

Police believed the group were involved in killing one elephant, cutting the tail off another one, and pulling out the tail hairs of three others at Dang Van Long's elephant farm in Lak District in the province.

Police said the group might also be involved in several other cases of cutting and pulling out hairs of elephants in Lak District and the Ban Don Eco-tourism zone.

They also seized a knife, a handmade system for electrical shock and 90 pieces of elephant tail hairs.

Local authorities said the number of local elephants dropped from 166 in 1998 to around 50 this year because of sudden deaths and human attacks.

Long said the elephant whose tail was cut off would die if it received improper care.

Many markets in the province sell elephant skins which are used to treat stomachaches.

National laws prohibit hunting and killing elephants, but they do not explicitly state that the selling of elephant skin is illegal.

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