Nearly 60 of the last elephants in Vietnam have been microchipped.

This is one of the urgent measures to conserve the elephant population in Vietnam, recently approved by the Prime Minister.

There are only about 60 elephants left in Vietnam.

According to the plan, by 2020 all domesticated elephants will be microchipped. In the meantime, localities need to quickly organize the creation of management records and the microchipping of domesticated elephants for close monitoring and protection, research on breeding domesticated elephants to conserve and develop the domesticated elephant population; and establish and develop the Dak Lak Provincial Elephant Conservation Center as a base for research and conservation of domesticated elephants.

At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen law enforcement effectiveness and effectively prevent acts of hunting and trading elephants and elephant products across the border. "Based on the Prime Minister's decision, localities will develop a roadmap for implementation, and when to proceed with attaching electronic chips to elephants will depend on the localities," Mr. Lien said.

Prior to that, since 2006, VietnamMaleAuthorities have been microchipping captive bears in all provinces and cities nationwide for protection. Mr. Lien stated that to date, more than 4,000 bears have been fitted with electronic chips. After being microchipped, all bears can be easily checked and monitored regularly, resulting in significantly improved protection efforts.

Statistics show that there are currently about 54 domesticated elephants in Vietnam, not including some elephants kept in zoos and circuses. Regarding wild elephants, Vietnam is considered one of 13 Asian countries with a living elephant population.

However, Vietnamese wild elephantsMaleThere has been a serious decline compared to 30 years ago. In the years 1975-1980, Vietnam had up to 2,000 wild elephants, but today there are only around 100 left, concentrated in provinces along the border with Laos and Cambodia. Dak Lak province is a long-standing habitat of the Vietnamese forest elephant.MaleEven at its peak, the population is now no more than 60 individuals, a decrease of half compared to 1997 and one-seventh of what it was 30 years ago.

According to Datviet-M