vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn  

BINH THUAN — Farmers in Tanh Linh District will feel the full weight of the Binh Thuan provincial authorities if they fail to move out of the forests, where rampaging wild elephants have killed two locals in two months.

Last Wednesday night, elephants trampled a 69-year-old woman to death in the second killing since June.

This came the night after elephants had destroyed crops about 150m from a forest ranger station.

"Hundreds of hectares of corn are ripening, providing abundant food for the herd," the director of the Binh Thuan Rubber Company said.

"It’s possible that more people will be killed, as the elephants will search the area for food until the harvest is over."

The elephants do not only forage at night. At 7:30am last Friday morning, three elephants appeared at the worksite of the Binh Thuan Rubber Company’s ninth production team, scaring hundreds of workers.

However, it is proving a difficult task to protect the farmers from the elephants.

Farmers and workers have been urged to leave the forests before 4pm, but most have not complied with the authorities’ requests. Many farmers live in huts inside the forests while they are tending their crops.

Despite the ongoing efforts of forest rangers, a herd of eight elephants has run riot in the Suoi Kiet area of Tanh Linh District since the beginning of the month.

"Forest rangers need to provide immediate and accurate information on the elephants’ positions, not just force farmers scattered throughout the forests to move within the district," said Ho Lam, deputy chairman of the Tanh Linh District People’s Committee.

Six ranger teams were established two months ago to protect the locals, following meetings between local officials and wildlife experts who sought to move the wild elephants to the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) province of Dac Lac. — VNS

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