ABOVE: A wild young bull bled to death after being hit by a speeding driver in March, 2014. The accident also killed six passengers. Photo: Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand
Too many wild elephants are creating problems in Thailand’s forests and must be dealt with, a national parks official claimed Tuesday.
Describing the estimated 2,000 wild elephants in Thailand as an overpopulation problem, Suphot Tovichakchaikul of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department said officials were looking for new habitats to relocate the animals, who were leaving the wild in search of food and coming into conflict with human populations.
Human encroachment and diminished wild areas are more direct pressures on elephant populations, but proposed solutions seem focused on moving the elephants. Suphot acknowledged that would be logistically difficult and said other unspecified measures would need to be taken, according to Bangkok Post.
Park officials said wild elephant populations are growing by 10 percent annually; however, a study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature a decade back put Thailand’s wild elephant population between 3,000 and 3,700. A century ago an estimated 300,000 wild elephants called the kingdom home, plus another 100,000 domesticated elephants, according to Asian elephant conservation group Ele Aid.
Of the 2,000 or so wild elephants believed to dwell in the kingdom’s forests, approximately 300 live in Khao Yai National Park, the Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary and Kuiburi National Park, according to a Bangkok Post source, with the same number in the Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary in Chachoengsao province.
Suphot said once a new home is found, the elephants will be relocated.
Authorities had to speed up finding new forest homes for wild elephants in forests with already large populations, especially in the four forest national parks. Once the studies are completed, those elephants would be moved to more spacious forests. However, Mr Suphot admitted the moving process would not be easy and other measures to manage elephant overpopulation would be considered.
Related:
Elephant attacks lead to change of opening hours at Khao Yai
Horny elephant defeats Toyota Vios in stomping competition
An elephant humped his car and Mercedes driver couldn’t be happier
Enraged bull elephant charges pickup truck at Khao Yai
Wild elephant left to bleed to death, 6 people killed by speeding driver
