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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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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More Da Lat elephants lose their tails

Two elephants in the central highlands resort town of Da Lat had their tails illegally cut Tuesday in the third such case reported in the province over the past four months.

According to forest rangers in Lam Dong Province, where the town is located, the elephants were attacked at around 3 a.m. when they were in the Prenn Falls tourism area.

They are two of three elephants that the area’s management board hired from Phan Dac Mau Dai in Duc Trong District three years ago.

Dai said usually the animals would be brought to the area in the morning and back to his house some 800 meters away at night, but he had let them free in the area recently as they were in their reproductive season.

“Losing their tails won’t affect their life, if the wounds are treated properly, but it would greatly affect their beauty,” Dai said, adding that the cut tail sections were about 30 centimeters long each.

Lam Dong’s forest rangers said local agencies had recently arrested four people on suspicion of cutting elephant tails.

Central highlands provinces lately have reported many cases where elephants' tails have been cut because of beliefs that hairs from the pachyderms' tails bring good luck in love and business.

A tail hair can be sold for up to VND400,000 (US$20.52), local reports say.

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More Da Lat elephants lose their tails

Two elephants in the central highlands resort town of Da Lat had their tails illegally cut Tuesday in the third such case reported in the province over the past four months.

According to forest rangers in Lam Dong Province, where the town is located, the elephants were attacked at around 3 a.m. when they were in the Prenn Falls tourism area.

They are two of three elephants that the area’s management board hired from Phan Dac Mau Dai in Duc Trong District three years ago.

Dai said usually the animals would be brought to the area in the morning and back to his house some 800 meters away at night, but he had let them free in the area recently as they were in their reproductive season.

“Losing their tails won’t affect their life, if the wounds are treated properly, but it would greatly affect their beauty,” Dai said, adding that the cut tail sections were about 30 centimeters long each.

Lam Dong’s forest rangers said local agencies had recently arrested four people on suspicion of cutting elephant tails.

Central highlands provinces lately have reported many cases where elephants' tails have been cut because of beliefs that hairs from the pachyderms' tails bring good luck in love and business.

A tail hair can be sold for up to VND400,000 (US$20.52), local reports say.

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