~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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[Year 2001]

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.