Close-up footage shows a mother and baby wild elephant destroying a local's acacia plantation in Nghe An.

On the morning of October 24th, it took a great deal of effort for Mr. Truong Van Hoai (residing in Dom 1 village, Chau Phong commune, Quy Chau district) to chase away a herd of two elephants from his acacia plantation. They only came in to eat grass, but they trampled quite a few small acacia trees that Mr. Hoai's family had recently planted.

According to local residents, these two wild elephants have been appearing near the residential area for about a week. On October 23rd, the two elephants appeared in the Huoi Phung area and broke through the barbed wire fence of Mr. Hoai's acacia garden to graze. Mr. Hoai and many other residents used various methods to drive them away, such as lighting fires and banging gongs, but the two elephants refused to leave. On the morning of October 24th, they broke through the fence again to move to the adjacent acacia garden.

About a week ago, these two elephants also appeared in the Huoi Pung area, Chau Phong commune, and destroyed the gardens, crops, and banana trees of a household in Luong village. Afterward, the two elephants moved across Provincial Road 544. "Previously, these two elephants only appeared for a few days before moving to another area. However, I don't understand why this time these two elephants stayed for so long and destroyed people's crops like this," said Mr. Hoai.

A mother and baby wild elephant in Mr. Hoai's acacia plantation. Photo: D.T.

Speaking to a reporter from Nghe An Newspaper, an official from Pu Mat National Park specializing in research on wild elephants in Nghe An said that these two elephants are mother and child. Their habitat is the natural forests of Chau Hanh and Chau Phong communes (Quy Chau district). Previously, this herd was quite large, but it was gradually slaughtered, leaving only these two mother and child. The peak of this was about 30 years ago, when two male elephants in the herd were killed for their ivory.

According to locals, the mother elephant is old and has one blind eye, most likely from a gunshot wound. The calf has recently grown to almost the same size as its mother. However, the herd is no longer able to thrive due to the lack of male elephants.

According to statistics from Pu Mat National Park, Nghe An province has approximately 14 to 16 wild elephants, ranking third in the country in terms of wild elephant population (after Dak Lak and Dong Nai provinces). Of these, 11 to 13 live within Pu Mat National Park. The remaining 3 include one solitary female elephant in the Nam Son and Bac Son communes of Quy Hop district and a mother and calf in Chau Phong commune.

Although there are still quite a few wild elephant herds, the majority of elephants in Nghe An are solitary and no longer capable of thriving. Many elephants have lived alone for decades, frequently venturing into residential areas to destroy crops and clash with humans. Without measures to integrate them with other herds, these elephants will gradually disappear over time.