Hundreds of households in a commune in
the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) province of Dak Lak fear that they and their
crops could be harmed after a wild elephant killed a local man last Sunday.

Tran Van
Tu in Ea H’leo District’s Ea H’leo Commune was killed by a wild elephant last
Sunday when he and Ha Van Thuat, who also lives in Ea H’leo Commune, were on
their way home after working in their fields.

Tu and
Thuat were walking on a footpath when the elephant suddenly appeared on the road
about five metres away and chased them.

Thuat
ran to the fields nearby and escaped, while Tu ran on the footpath and was
killed by the elephant.

Luc Thi
Lien, Tu’s neighbour, said after hearing about Tu’s death, she rode a motorbike
to the scene of the accident, but the elephant chased her away.

Local
residents used 20 motorbikes to create noise by operating their engines at full
capacity and blowing their horns, but they still could not chase the elephant
away from the scene of the accident, Lien said.

Finally,
local residents used an automobile to chase the elephant away.

Incidents of wild elephants destroying crops and tents in fields in Dak Lak have
been occurring for several years, but this was the first time a wild elephant
had killed someone, Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper reported.

Mai Thi
Lien in Ea H’leo Commune said: “I have 3ha of cashew and cassava and every year
wild elephants damage my crop, but this year it has been even worse.”

“Previously, wild elephants only visited my fields at night, but now they come
during the day,” she said.

Le Trong
Trinh, chairman of the Ea H’leo Commune People’s Committee, said after the death
of Tu, commune authorities and forest rangers could only warn residents about
the danger of wild elephants and instruct them in measures to chase them away.

The area
where wild elephants appear has about 300ha of cashew and 200ha of cassava.
About 150-200 farmers stay at night on cashew and cassava fields.

Dak Lak
authorities should have drastic measures to protect the safety of local people
and their crops, he said.

Elephants killed

Meanwhile, two wild elephants in Na Lau Valley in the central province of Quang
Nam were allegedly killed by poachers and their tusks were taken away, Tuoi Tre
(Youth) newspaper reported.

However,
local authorities and forest rangers did not know about this incident.

Local
residents said they heard several gun sounds in the area where the two wild
elephants were later found dead in Na Lau Valley in Nong Son District’s Que Lam
Commune.

Phan Nhu
Thach, director of the Quang Nam Province Police Department, said on Tuesday
that his department had not received any report about the death of the two
elephants.

If the
two wild elephants were killed, agencies would investigate this case, Thach
said.

The Nong
Son District Forest Protection Bureau in cooperation with the Que Lam Commune
Police, on Tuesday began to carry out an investigation about the elephants’
deaths.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News