Elephants have been destroying crops in Dak Drong Commune, the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong, but traditional measures to deal with this problem seem to be ineffective.

A wooden house damaged by elephants

According to the People’s Committee of Dak Drong Commune, over the past three months, the elephants have roamed through crop areas between the hours of 21:00 p.m and 4:00 a.m looking for food and damaging the crops, including sugarcane, potatoes and cassavas.

The Dak Lak Elephant Preservation Centre has said that now two elephants, the mother elephant along with its offspring, are destroying the crops in Dak Drong Commune. This is not the first time such occurrences have taken place. Many have witnessed a male elephant who also came to local fields, doing damage to the crops.

Tran Van Thanh, the Chairman of Dak Drong Commune, said the commune is just a bit more than 10km away from Yok Don National Park, so each year elephants destroy the fields as they move in their natural cycles. Thanh added that this year has been the most serious.

Statistics show that elephants have destroyed two wooden houses, 8 tents and quite large area of crop fields, particularly sugarcane fields.

Sugarcane fields destroyed by elephants

The Dak Lak Elephant Preservation Centre said that Dak Lak now has around 60-70 wild elephants, which move in around the the central part of Yok Don National Park and the surrounding area.

Hoang Thi Anh, a resident from Dak Drong Commune, said, the elephants ate 30 kilogrammes of rice from her family plot and destroyed their wooden house.

Meanwhile, elephants have damaged more than one hectare of sugarcane and two hectares of maize owned his family, causing an estimated loss of more than VND100 million (USD4,760).

Mr. Thanh said local authorities informed the population that the situation of the district People’s Committee, however, they have not yet received any support.

Initially, local people used a traditional a method to scare away elephants, including fire and tools to make loud noises. Initially, this proved effective, but later seemed ineffective.

Mr. Thanh, now they are unable to find a better ways to drive off the elephants, except to carry out propaganda activities that help raise awareness.

Local people trying to make loud noises to scare away elephants

Some experts have said that the massive human destruction of the forest is the cause for the problem, which should be solved by giving the herds protected sanctuaries to forage for food.

In September of this year, a herd of more than 20 elephants approached Ea Sup Town.

Dr. Bao Huy, from Tay Nguyen University, said local people should plant trees which are not part of elephants' regular diet, and that local authorities should clearly define the areas with this problem so it can be addressed.

Thanh noted that human encroachment of the natural environment of the elephant has reached an estimated 70-80% in and around Yok Don National Park.