World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) and Vietnamese nature authorities on December 14 kicked off an emergency project to protect the biggest herd of elephants in the country from extinction.
An elephant in the Yok Don National Park (Photo:VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) and Vietnamesenature authorities on December 14 kicked off an emergency project to protectthe biggest herd of elephants in the country from extinction.
The project, which is being undertaken by WWF Vietnam and the Yok Don NationalPark in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, will focus on theenforcement of environmental law and mitigation of human and elephantconflicts.
The mitigation job is developed on the basic elephants’ custom of seasonalmovement and tasks to improve livelihood for local residents in the CentralHighlands.
Under the project, training courses for forest rangers on the topic of lawenforcement as well as skill for investigating habitat sites will be open forthe ranger divisions in the region. WWF Vietnam will support the task of phototraps to monitor the elephants.
The Yok Don Park will be equipped with a system of spatial monitoring andreporting tools called SMART, which have proved its effectiveness followingpilot use for monitoring the rare creature saola in the centralprovinces of Thua Thien- Hue and Quang Nam.
The Central Highlands is home to the biggest herd of elephants in the country,accounting for 70 percent of national elephant population. The protection ofthis region’s elephant herd is significant to the preservation of Asianelephants in Vietnam.
According to the park’s director Do Quang Tung, the park is a hotspot forencroachment activities and its topography allows easy access from the park’sfour sides.
A report by WWF Vietnam said the elephant is a species that requires a vasthabitat area but its living space and moving corridors have been narrowed dueto human encroachment into the forest.
General Department of Forestry’s figures showed that in the last 40 years, from1975 to 2015, the population of Asian elephants in Vietnam has decreased by 95percent. In Dak Lak, a total of 23 elephants were killed for souvenir itemssuch as tusks, tail hair, and foot, which are sold illegally in the province.
Experts said this is the last chance to protect the elephants before thepachyderm faces a painful extinction in Vietnam much like the Java rhino.-VNA
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An elephant in the Yok Don National Park (Photo:VNA) 
