(TITC) - Dak Lak Province (in Central Highlands of Vietnam) is considered as the elephant land, since there are a large number of domestic and forest elephant populations. However, due to many reasons, the herd of domestic elephants is decreasing day by day. Being aware of this fact, Dak Lak Province has had many practical activities to conserve and nourish domestic elephants.
Female elephant H'Khun A foraging in Yok Don National Park (Photo: baodaklak.vn)
Domestic elephants drop
According to Dak Lak Center for Elephant Conservation, Animal Rescue and Forest Protection, in the 80s of the last century, there were more than 500 domestic elephants in the province. However, there are only 36 individuals left so far, of which there are 21 elephants in Buon Don District, 14 individuals in Lak District and only 1 individual remains in Krong Ana District.
There are many causes that lead to the reduction of the domestic elephants in Dak Lak, such as elephants are attacked to steal tusks and tail feathers, the elephant's habitat is reduced, elephants are sold and transported to other provinces. The strange thing is that over the past 30 years, no female elephant has successfully reproduced, while the age of the elephants is increasing.
According to Mr. Y Si That Ksor - Vice Chairman of Buon Don District People’s Committee, as the domestic elephants in Dak Lak are on the edge of extinction, for the past few years, the authorities of the Dak Lak Province have promulgated guidelines and policies on conservation of domestic elephants. In which, policies have been adopted to support domestic elephants to breed and limit conflicts between elephants and people in Dak Lak, welfare for elephants…
In order to preserve the domestic elephant herd, over the years, Dak Lak Province has issued many guidelines and policies to support elephant owners, support elephants to reproduce, and develop elephant friendly models. In 2021, Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee and Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in building a friendly model for domestic elephants, aiming to terminate the implementation of elephant riding tourism and activities affecting the welfare of domestic elephants in tourism and festivals, contributing to the conservation of domestic elephants in Dak Lak.
Raising the humanity
The project has been implemented from November 2021 to December 2026, aiming for the elephant friendly tourism model in Buon Don and Lak districts. Thereby, completely replace the form of elephant riding tourism; herds of domestic elephants are preserved, cared for, received welfare, their life expectancies are pro-long; elephant owners are compensated for the lack of income; tourist centres get technical support to convert to an elephant-friendly tourism model…
People and businesses doing tourism in the area of Dak Lak are willing to join hands in protecting domestic elephants. And for the first time, at the 8th Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival in 2023, Dak Lak Province did not use elephants to parade at street festivals and in the Buon Don Elephant Festival. The activities such as elephant races, swimming elephants, and soccer elephants are not organised, instead, only a health ceremony for elephants and a makeup contest for elephants, buffet for elephants,... took place.
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