NAKHON NAYOK, Oct 8 (TNA) – Five additional wild elephant
carcasses have been spotted in the water near the Haew Narok waterfall in the
Khao Yai National Park, raising the total number of dead elephants from falling
into the strong current to 11.
Park rangers are installing big nets downstream to retrieve
the carcasses before they float into the Khun Dan Prakan Chon dam in order to
prevent water contamination risk.
The team of park rangers took a boat to a creek and
proceeded on foot to tie the old fishing nets to trees on both sides of the
canal at two locations.
They plan to remove and bury the carcasses in the forest as
quickly as they can.
Nakhon Nayok Governor Natthapong Sirichana said in a press
briefing on Tuesday that a drone flying over the canal found five additional
carcasses, believed to belong to the same herd of the dead elephants discovered
earlier.
It is Thailand’s biggest loss of wild elephant population in
a national park on record, said the governor. It remained unknown why the
elephants plunged into the ravine, he added.
However, two of them climbed out of the ravine and survived.
They have reunited with the herd, park officials say.
The 150-meter-high Haew Narok is the largest and one of the
most picturesque waterfalls inside Khao Yai National Park. (TNA)
