Vietnam halts elephant relocation
HANOI - Vietnam has suspended the relocation of a dangerous herd of wild elephants
after the deaths of two tranquilized animals, officials said Friday.
The operation will not resume until an investigation is completed into the deaths of the elephants, an
official of the Forest Protection Department said on condition of anonymity.
The herd has trampled 12 villagers to death over the past three years in central Binh Thuan province.
Government officials are meeting with Malaysian elephant experts who were hired to relocate the
animals, the official said. They were to discuss the elephants' deaths and the future of the relocation
operation.
On Monday, Malaysian and Vietnamese elephant handlers shot a mother elephant and a smaller
elephant believed to be her child with tranquilizer darts. They captured and chained the mother, but the
smaller elephant escaped and died later in the day, apparently after stumbling and falling down a slope
onto rocks.
The captured elephant was discovered dead on Wednesday, Vietnam Television said.
In an interview with VTV, Shariff Bin Daim, the chief Malaysian expert, said the captured elephant may
have been angered by some news photographers and reporters who approached it. The animal, tied
with a long chain around one leg, apparently died after it fell on a tree stump, he said.
Shariff said in the future, the experts will only shoot elephants with tranquilizers in flat terrain and will
transport the captured animals to cages as quickly as possible.
Villagers said six elephants remain in the herd.
The government plans to relocate them to York Don National Park in the central highland province of
Daklak bordering Cambodia.
Vietnam has an estimated 70 to 100 wild elephants, down from 1,500 to 2,000 in 1975.
The number has declined because of hunting and a shrinking habitat caused by deforestation. The
encroachment of humans and consequent food shortages have made the elephants more aggressive in
recent years.
The Associated Press - November 16, 2001.
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