The mother elephant that regularly returned to her village in Nghe An to find food has died.

On the afternoon of February 16, Mr. Le Xuan Dinh - Head of Quy Chau Forest Protection Department said that the mother elephant in the herd of two elephants that often conflicted with people had recently died. "The elephant's body was discovered by people in the deep forest. Currently, the working group is entering the forest. The cause of the elephant's death is not yet clear," Mr. Dinh said.

This is the mother elephant in the last remaining herd of two elephants in Quy Chau district. Their habitat is the natural forests of Chau Hanh and Chau Phong communes (Quy Chau). Previously, this herd was quite crowded, but was gradually killed, leaving only these two mother and child. The peak was about 30 years ago, when two male elephants in the herd were killed for their tusks. This herd has lost the ability to develop due to the lack of male elephants. According to local people, this mother elephant is old and has one eye missing, most likely from a gunshot wound.

A mother and her baby wild elephants returned to the village to find food. Photo: TH

Previously, for many consecutive days at the end of 2022, this mother elephant often returned to villages in Chau Phong commune to find food. According to the locals, this time the mother elephant went alone and looked much thinner than before.

On the night of December 10 alone, this elephant "visited" more than 10 houses in Chau Phong commune. It used its trunk to tear open the windows of houses, then went to other houses to break the ferment jars to eat. Authorities and hundreds of people used many methods to chase it away, such as gathering firewood to make a fire, beating gongs, using loudspeakers to shout, and even using sirens, but to no avail.

After eating its fill, the elephant continued to leisurely go to the house next door to rummage through and eat bananas right on the porch, despite being chased away by humans.

According to statistics from Pu Mat National Park, Nghe An has about 14 to 16 wild elephants, the locality with the third largest number of wild elephants in the country (after Dak Lak and Dong Nai provinces). Of these, 11 to 13 live in the Pu Mat National Park area. The remaining 3, including 1 female elephant living alone in the area of ​​2 communes Nam Son, Bac Son of Quy Hop district and a herd of 2 mother and baby elephants in Chau Phong commune.

Although there are still quite a few wild elephant herds, most of the elephant herds in Nghe An are isolated and have no potential to develop. Many elephants have lived alone for decades, often returning to residential areas to destroy crops and conflict with humans. Without measures to merge with other herds, these elephant herds will gradually be eliminated over time.