The Central Highlands province of Dak Lak is the sole location in Vietnam where there remains the tradition of maintaining herds of tame elephants in its districts of Buon Don, Lac, Ea Sup, and Krong Nang. However, the population of tame elephants is sharply falling.

 

In the past nearly two decades, many tame elephants have died of old age while there is no source of replacement. This fact has threatened the existence of the tame elephant herd in Dak Lak. A tame elephant preservation project was worked out but it has not been carried out. When three tame elephants died in May 2008 the situation became alarming.

 

On May 13, an elephant of Mr. Mania in the village famous for taming elephants, Don village, in Krong Na commune, Buon Don district, suddenly died after living with this family for over 50 years.

 

One day later, an elephant of Mrs. H’Be in Tul A village, Ea Wel commune, Buon Don district also died. This elephant had refused to eat and was on her back for around two weeks before she died.

 

Nearly two weeks later, a 68-year-old elephant died in the Buon Jun ecological tourist site, in Lien Son town, Lac district. According to the owner, the elephant had carried tourists on the previous day.

 

There are three reasons for elephant deaths: old age, poor living conditions and overexploitation. After the three above cases, Dak Lak authorities banned commercial overexploitation of elephants and checked the tame elephant population in the province.

 

Vice Chairman of Dak Lak province, Duong Thanh Tuong, said the province has 60 tame elephants. The number of female elephants is more than male and most of them are very old. Meanwhile, the government prohibits hunting and taming elephants so the population of tame elephants is declining.

 

Dak Lak issued a tame elephant preservation project last September, which include the following solutions: making an elephant preservation zone, founding an association of elephant breeders and opening a tame elephant preservation centre, using tame elephants properly, educating elephant breeders, creating good living environments for tame elephants, and researching to get tame elephants to reproduce.

 

Tuong said the most difficult thing is getting tame elephants to reproduce because female elephants can not have babies until the age of 10. The pregnancy period is long, from 20-22 months, and the child-bearing age of elephants is up to 45. In captivity, an elephant’s reproductive ability declines. In addition, elephant breeders don’t want to let their elephants have babies so the replacement source is mainly from nature. However, hunting wild elephants is contrary to the rules and international conventions that Vietnam has signed.

 

(Source: SGGP)

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