Wild elephants in Nghe An return to people's homes to search for food at night

On June 12, the family of Mr. Vi Van Kien (37 years old), in Tang village, Nam Son commune, Quy Hop district, was once again scared when a large wild elephant entered the house to cause trouble. This is the only wild elephant left in Quy Hop district, living alone for nearly 20 years.

Accordingly, in the early morning of June 11, while Mr. Kien's family was sleeping, they were awakened by a loud noise. When they woke up, they saw an elephant using its trunk to pry open the planks under his stilt house to search for food. After being chased away, the elephant did not show any fear but stood leisurely right in front of the porch, a few meters away from Mr. Kien. The elephant's mouth was still stuck with the banana tree bark after it was cut down in Mr. Kien's backyard.

The elephant stands in front of Mr. Kien's porch. Photo: Vi Kien

Because the house is located on the elephants' regular migration route, Mr. Kien's family is one of the households that suffers the most damage when elephants often come to harass and search for food, especially during the harvest season. Notably, in June 2022, the wild elephant suddenly became angry while returning to the village and killed 2 cows of Mr. Kien's family. According to the inventory of Quy Hop district, in 2021 alone, the damage caused by this wild elephant to the people of Bac Son and Nam Son communes was 130 million VND.

According to the leaders of Quy Hop district, the locality has sent reports to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in which it has proposed that departments, branches and sectors inspect and consider the plan to relocate elephants to Pu Mat National Park, a large area with the function of preserving wildlife. At the same time, consider having support policies for people in Bac Son and Nam Son communes who suffered damage caused by wild elephants. However, so far, there has been no response.

Elders in Nam Son commune said that in the past, the Tang village area and surrounding areas were home to a large herd of wild elephants. The area was surrounded by vast bamboo forests - the elephants' favorite food.

Nearly 30 years ago, this herd of elephants still had 8. As the population here grew, the bamboo forests also gradually thinned out. It seemed that the destruction of the bamboo forests and the scarcity of food sources had angered the elephants. They began to destroy crops, and people tried to chase them away many times but to no avail.

In 1995, a woman saw a herd of elephants eating in her family’s rice field, which was about to be harvested, and she ran down to chase them away. Unfortunately, she was mauled to death by the herd. The herd then attacked another woman, but the victim was lucky to escape.

Kien's family's stilt house. Photo: Tien Hung

According to the elders, it seems that the elephants, fearing revenge from the people after the fatal beating, agreed to give up their familiar habitat to humans and move to another land.

They led each other through the communes of Chau Ly and Chau Dinh to the forests of Van Loi and Ha Son communes. This area was about 40 km from their old area.

A few years later, the villagers of Tang village saw the elephant appear again. However, this time, there was only one female elephant. When she returned, she had a deformity in her hind foot. According to the villagers, it was probably an injury from a trap. Since then, the female elephant has lived alone, often returning to the villages of Nam Son and Bac Son communes to cause trouble.