Elephants appear unusual

By the afternoon of September 4, the park rangers at Yok Don National Park (Dak Lak) said that about 36 elephants are still around the sub-area 418 of Yok Don National Park.

About 36 elephants move in rows to cut through an oily forest
belonging to Yok Don National Park - (Photo taken from the clip of the ranger)

Mr. Nguyen Van Hiet - deputy head of the Forest Protection Station No. 11 of Yok Don National Park - said that at this time elephants from other areas find their way to the buffer zone of the garden is a normal phenomenon because it is the season of corn and elephants. foods. However, compared to previous years, the frequency of elephants in this year is much higher and the number recorded in this latest batch can be the largest ever.

Elephants over 30 children

Mr. Hiet opened the clip that he and another forest ranger recorded by phone during a recent forest trip. In this video, a pretty crowded herd moves into rows cutting through an oily wood forest. In another clip, the gentle-looking elephants cut across the provincial road 16 leading to Ia R'vê commune (Ea Sup district, Dak Lak) before a group of passersby trying to reach the elephant.'This clip I filmed in the afternoon of August 28, when you were on patrol suddenly heard a sound like a thunderstorm. Stopping to observe carefully, it was quite surprising that in the immediate future was a large group of forest elephants, I counted about 36 animals, including baby elephants. It was this elephant that I had seen a few months ago, ' said Hiet.

Mr. Y Ky, Forest Ranger Station No. 11, led us to the scene some places where elephants while moving had damaged many traffic equipment and signs. At the road section, about 500m away from the Forest Ranger Station No. 11, it is an image of road landmarks being uprooted and lying on the roadside. Nearby, a path about 2m wide was crushed by elephants to form a channel leading deep into the forest. Mr. Y Ky said that this is the elephant's movement from the center of the national park to the fields to find food. The time of elephants appeared mainly from 16:00 to twilight, many rangers while patrolling caught elephants.

In another location, a sign about 2m high, cast with solid concrete, was also destroyed by elephants. Around, large footprints were stepped on, sometimes there were many feces of elephants. Mr. Y Ky pointed at a half-footed footprint, indicating that this might be the footprint of the baby elephant that he and another park ranger had seen when patrolling.

Elephant footprints in an elephant road passing through Yok Don National Park - (Photo: BD)

According to officials at Forest Protection Station No. 11, the time they found the elephants in this appearance was on August 28, the location was in Cau Hai area (sub-area 418). Since then, elephants have frequently moved to other areas and then returned to the patrol areas of the station at night. Mr. Nguyen Van Hiet said that elephants can also be seen as a happy signal but the patrol is very difficult because the elephants move abnormally, at night patrolling the forest may be in danger, only need to see the light is an elephant rushing to attack immediately.

Mr. Hiet also said that since the identification of the re-emergent elephant, the ranger station had issued a notice to households to take measures to protect crops. Every day the rangers are responsible for monitoring the movement of elephants to have a protection plan and send information about the park management board.

People 'cry'

The fact that elephants appear in large numbers in the past few days has caused many households to suffer because the crops are destroyed by elephants. Mr. Viet, a household in Ea Sup town (Ea Sup), said that this time he planted 6ha of corn, prepared to enter the harvest time, the elephant returned to clear 4.5ha.'Every night in this area is crowded because many people burn fire to drive elephants. Now I have more than 1 ha of corn, within another week if 'he' does not break, I will be a little bit lucky. ' Mr. Viet said that because the crops were destroyed, he hired more people to burn the elephants at night to burn elephants. About a week ago, he and his employee were chased by elephants to run to the top of the hill by turning on their headlights.

In H'Rem Siu and Le Van Ly's upland fields (B2 village, Ea Sup town), there are also tents and camps that are crushed by elephants. Mr. Ly said that almost every year, elephants will return, but this year they are much more crowded so the crops are destroyed more."He ate it, I could not help it, but pulled the whole flock and trampled it and walked away, there was no way to get rid of it so we were helpless now" - Mr. Ly said.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hiet, it is only natural for people to be annoyed by the fact that elephants are devastating crops. However, at present, forest rangers can only mobilize people to calm down, use manual measures to drive away elephants, to avoid endangering the herd because elephants are very sensitive animals, need strict protection.