A group of wild elephants have been spotted at a residential area in Nong Son District in the central province of Quang Nam.
A group of wild elephants have been spotted at a residential area in Nong Son District in the central province of Quang Nam.
Speaking to local media on Sunday afternoon, Que Lam Communal People's Committee Chairman Tran Van Sang said that local people had seen and recorded videos of a herd of wild elephants coming from the forest to their village.
"There were five elephants," the official said. "They looked fine, well-fed and calm, which was different from the hungry and violent elephants that were seen here in 2019."
According to the official, both local residents and the wild elephants have benefited from the elephant sanctuary which was established by the Vietnam Administration of Forestry in partnership with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2017.
"The sanctuary covers nearly 19,000 hectares in Phuoc Ninh and Que Lam communes of Nong Son district, and a buffer zone covering about 25,000 hectares sprawling over nine communes of the districts of Nong Son, Dai Loc, Nam Giang, Phuoc Son and Hiep Duc," Sang added. "We’ve grown more trees in the sanctuary to supply enough food for the elephants and built a proper fence to prevent them from going into residential areas."
A recent survey by the Vietnam Administration of Forestry identified at least seven elephants living in a group in the reserve. They are among the last endangered Asian elephants.
It is estimated that between 70-130 wild elephants are currently living across 10 localities in Vietnam, with the largest number found in the border area of Vietnam with Laos and Cambodia.
