CHACHOENGSAO, June 23 (TNA) – The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation is relocating wild elephants away from communities near a forest where five provinces adjoin.
Supakit Winitpornsawan, the department’s director for wildlife sanctuary development, said officials of many units under the department joined forces to relocate wild elephants from the forest where Chon Buri, Sa Kaeo, Rayong, Chanthaburi and Chachoengsao adjoined. The officials also put GPS collars on the relocated pachyderms to monitor their behaviors, sources of food and herd locations.
The relocation project was aimed at solving long-standing conflicts between communities and wild elephants, he said.
Recently officials caught a male elephant weighing about three tons in Rayong outside a forest reserve. It was transported to the Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary in Chachoengsao.
Last week officials captured another male elephant weighing about four tons in a community in Khao Chamao district of Rayong. It had yet to be relocated to a forest where there were food plants and artificial salt licks, Mr Supakit said. (TNA)
