Sad news for environmentalists and animal lovers: yet another elephant was found dead Friday last week in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak. The body of the female elephant was found in a forest in the Ea Sup District; the animal is estimated to be around five years old.
The elephant’s trunk, upper set of teeth, toe nails and tail had been cut off.
The number of wild elephants left in Vietnam has shrunk to 80 from as many as 2,000 elephants recorded in 1975 due to illegal poaching and deforestation.
Vietnam’s Asian Elephant, the largest living land mammal on the continent, is now listed as an endangered species.
The elephants are mostly grouped in the Central Highlands, the central provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh and southern Dong Nai Province.