Over the years, in meetings on elephant conservation in Nghe An, reports have stated that the entire Nghe An province currently has 13-16 wild elephants, or 12-14. Most recently, at the Elephant Conservation Assessment Workshop held in Quy Chau district at the end of April 2022, reports also stated that "Nghe An has 13-16 wild elephants", of which Pu Mat National Park has 12-13...
However, according to the reporter's investigation, in reality, after the female elephant in Chau Phong commune (Quy Chau) was discovered dead not long ago, the entire Nghe An province only has 11 wild elephants left. Of these, only the Cao Veu herd still has the potential to grow with 8 elephants, including 2 males with tusks. This herd has 2 young elephants, believed to have been born in the period 2013-2016.
The remaining 3 herds are all single elephant herds, no longer able to reproduce. Specifically, after the mother died, the female elephant in Chau Phong commune (Quy Chau) will have to live alone. In Quy Hop district, there is also a female elephant that has been "single" for more than 20 years in the forests of Nam Son and Bac Son communes. In addition, in Khe Kem area (Con Cuong), after the male elephant was killed in 1996, there is only one female elephant living alone since then. This elephant is so lonely that during the mating season, she often goes to the fields at the edge of the forest to find buffalo to make friends.
The reason for the discrepancy in the numbers reported is that the authorities have difficulty recording the elephant herds as well as the uncertainty about the elephant herds that usually live upstream of Khe Thoi (in the territory of Tam Quang and Tam Hop communes, Tuong Duong district). Therefore, many reports have included this herd. However, in reality, this herd has long migrated to Laos to live.
Previously, this herd of elephants often lived in the upper reaches of Khe Thoi and Khe Mat, deep in the core area of Pu Mat National Park. This is a rugged area, bordering Laos, a day's walk from where people live. Therefore, there was no conflict with humans. This herd of elephants had at least 4 elephants, including a male elephant with tusks. However, the last and only time the herd of elephants was recorded was 22 years ago. Accordingly, in 1998, Pu Mat National Park set up many camera traps in the area where the herd of elephants often moved, however, it was not until more than 3 years later that images of elephants could be captured. In the following years, rangers and foresters occasionally saw traces of the herd of elephants such as droppings, footprints, etc. However, since 2008, there has been no trace that the herd of elephants still lives there.
“Over the past 15 years, we have regularly patrolled but have not found any trace of this herd of elephants. Meanwhile, when we asked the authorities on the Lao side, they said they occasionally found herds of elephants. Therefore, it can be said that this herd of elephants has moved to the neighboring country for a long time. Thus, the entire Nghe An province now has only 11 wild elephants left,” said Mr. Tran Xuan Cuong, Director of Pu Mat National Park.
According to the report on the status of wild elephants in Vietnam, Asian elephants are a large mammal that is highly threatened with extinction. In 1990, Vietnam estimated that there were 2,000 elephants, but by 2013 there were only about 130 left. Distributed in 8 provinces: Son La, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Nam, Dak Lak, Lam Dong, Dong Nai and Binh Phuoc. Faced with such a decline in elephant numbers, in 2013, the Government approved the implementation of the "Overall Project for Elephant Conservation in Vietnam for the period 2013 - 2020" and Nghe An is one of 3 provinces selected for priority conservation and sustainable development of Vietnam's wild elephant population (Nghe An, Dak Lak, Dong Nai).
In 2013, the People's Committee of Nghe An province approved and implemented the "Urgent project to conserve elephants in Nghe An province until 2020" and assigned Pu Mat National Park as the investor. According to the Director of Pu Mat National Park, this project was approved with a budget of 86 billion VND, however, due to limited resources, in reality, only over 20 billion VND has been allocated so far.
With that budget, Pu Mat National Park has focused on implementing propaganda activities to protect elephant herds, training on how to prevent conflicts between elephants and humans. Purchasing some equipment such as speakers, lights, protective clothing, etc. for the rapid response team. Building infrastructure works to support elephant conservation such as nearly 5 km long elephant trenches in Cao Veu villages; Building 3 rest stops in Cao Veu, Khe Bong, Khe Thoi to serve the patrolling and protection of forests and elephant herds; Building 28.914 km of patrol roads in elephant habitats in Pu Mat National Park; Building 2 forest fire watchtowers combined with monitoring elephant activities.
On March 31, 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh signed a Decision approving the adjustment of the "Overall Project for Elephant Conservation in Vietnam for the period 2013 - 2020". According to the adjustment, the above Project will be implemented until the end of 2025.
Mr. Tran Xuan Cuong said that after this Decision, the People's Committee of Nghe An province assigned Pu Mat National Park to continue implementing and advising the People's Committee on upcoming solutions. "We plan to adjust and eliminate construction items in the old project that are no longer suitable. In addition, the upcoming solution will be to create livelihood models so that people in the area where elephants often come to destroy and change the crop structure. Because if you keep growing sugarcane and corn, elephants will love to eat them. In addition, we will also add beekeeping models because these are species that elephants hate. At the same time, we will strengthen propaganda and training for people to know how to avoid conflicts with elephants. In particular, we will continue to protect the elephant herd with many solutions such as stabilizing their habitats...", Mr. Cuong said.
Nghe An currently has 4 wild elephant herds, but 3 of them are single elephant herds, no longer able to develop due to the lack of male elephants. If they are not moved or merged, they will be eliminated over time due to old age. Regarding this issue, Mr. Tran Xuan Cuong said that since 2016, Nghe An has also considered the option of moving single elephants, both to give them mates to reproduce with and to stabilize the lives of localities that are often damaged by elephants.
“However, this solution can be said to be impossible,” Mr. Cuong said, adding that in the past, there have been attempts to move wild elephants in Vietnam but they all failed. That was when the elephant herds in Tanh Linh (Binh Thuan), and Binh Chau – Phuoc Buu (Ba Ria – Vung Tau), were moved to Dak Lak. They then quickly died due to many reasons, mainly due to loss of strength and an unsuitable living environment.
According to Mr. Cuong, to move an elephant, first you have to use anesthetic. “However, to anesthetize, you also have to know the weight of the elephant, to prepare the appropriate amount of medicine. Too little and it won’t be anesthetized, too much and it will die. But now, no one dares to guess the weight of an elephant,” Mr. Cuong said, adding that even if they can accurately guess the weight of an elephant to anesthetize it, it will still take dozens of minutes for the elephant to fall asleep. By then, the elephant will have run dozens of kilometers deep into the forest. Due to the rugged terrain, it will be very difficult for any vehicle to transport the elephant out of the forest.
“If the other steps are successful, the most important thing is where to move the elephant. Now, like Quy Hop district has a document requesting to move the lone elephant to Pu Mat National Park, but who dares to allow it to be brought here? Currently, the whole country has only Dong Nai province planned as a place to release elephants for rebirth, and is permitted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,” Mr. Cuong said, adding that if elephants from Nghe An are moved all the way to Dong Nai, there is a high risk of failure. The reason is that in the forests in Nghe An, the food of elephants is different, while in the forests in the South, the food is different. Not to mention, the climate between the two localities is also completely different, so it will be very difficult for elephants to get used to it.
Sharing this view, Ms. Vo Thi Nhung - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that recently, Quy Hop district has issued a document proposing to move elephants in this district to Pu Mat National Park. "Regarding this proposal, up to now, Nghe An province has not been able to implement it. Because in the past, in Vietnam, many attempts to move wild elephants failed because the new ecological zone was not suitable, and the elephants could not integrate with the new herd. However, the Department has also proposed that research institutes and wildlife research centers survey, continue to research, and fully investigate the necessary and sufficient factors to safely move elephants to a new area," Ms. Nhung said.
