While footage of a male elephant trampling on vehicles in Khao Yai went viral last week, wildlife officers on the other side of the country know the problem is much more than a novel video.
On the beaten track: A wild elephant ambles past a car in Khao Yai National Park. Officials may limit access to the park’s roads after a series of dangerous encounters between elephants and motorists. (Photos by Sayan Chuenudomsavad)
Kaeng Krachan National Park ranger Phol Thomya tells his subordinates to move slowly as they drive along the Nong Phlub-Huay Sat Yai Road, which cuts across the southern part of the forest.
For more than a month, Mr Phol and six other rangers have been patrolling a 10km stretch of the road to keep an eye out for wild elephants coming out of the jungle.
National parks introduced the patrols after two villagers travelling on a motorcycle were hit by an elephant last month. The driver escaped alive, but the female pillion passenger was trampled to death in the park which is part of the Western Forest Complex, the region of the country where conflicts between humans and elephants are most common.
“Every one of us is sorry about what happened and nobody wants it to happen again,” said 49-year-old Mr Phol, who has worked as a ranger for 20 years and encountered many elephants without being injured. “People have to travel along this road, but so do elephants. When they encounter one another tragic incidents can sometimes happen.”
On guard around the clock: Left, an elephant watch team patrols Kaeng Krachan National Park to ensure motorists’ safety. Right, rangers patrol a park thoroughfare checking for elephants.
WAR IN THE WOODS
Kaeng Krachan National Park is the country's largest national park, with 1.8 million rai under its supervision.
Its elephant conservation programme, which started a decade ago, puts the pachyderm population at 100-120 elephants in the middle and north of the park and 120-150 in the south, known as the Huay Sat Yai and Pa Deng valleys.
In recorded conflicts over the past 10 years, 17 villages have been damaged by marauding elephants, while 13 elephants have been killed through various methods ranging from shooting to electrification and poisoning.
A 2013 study by Kasetsat University said elephants were being driven into the mountains by human encroachment on their habitat in the lowlands and a road cutting through the two valleys.
But due to a lack of food and water, the elephants are increasingly returning to old habitats that are now occupied by villagers — particularly during the dry season.
The problem is further compounded by land plots granted to villagers allowed to dwell in the forests. Many of these plots are disputed and located on the elephants' routes between fertile forest areas.
HABITAT PATROLS
After the latest incident, the Parks Department ordered Kaeng Krachan to come up with immediate and long-term measures to resolve the problem. Among the immediate measures is a newly established elephant watch patrol, under which Mr Phol and his fellow rangers are assigned to keep wild elephants out of the road.
According to the park's new chief, Kamol Nualyai, officials will also clear patches of greenery along the roadside which interrupt eyesight. This will enable road users to detect wild elephants from long distances, to better avoid encountering them on the road.
The park is proposing that the department installs CCTV along the road, plus phone signal reception stations to increase safety, while staff are set to create sources of water and food for the elephants in the forest, so the animals will not have to venture further afield.
But among the proposals, none has targeted illegal land encroachment.
About 1.5km of concrete fences have so far been erected to prevent elephants from coming out of the forest and into villagers’ crop fields, but tens of kilometres more are needed. Separate elephant watch teams are working day and night to guard fields in 17 villages, but their abilities are limited, with only four or five of them on each shift.
Driven to the road: A wild elephant roaming the Huay Sat Yai-Pa Deng road through the southern part of Kaeng Krachan National Park.
ROOT OF THE MATTER
Assistant professor Ronglarp Sukmasuang, a co-researcher on the Master Plan for Elephant Conflict Resolution and Conservation, said the problems in Kaeng Krachan can be seen in other protected areas. But he said the issue is more serious at the park, because it has a large population of wild elephants, the high-quality gene pool of which must be preserved.
Prof Ronglarp said measures implemented to tackle the issue at the park have been on the right track but do not go far enough. The root cause of the issue is habitat encroachment and the previous park chief attempted to reclaim some land plots to make way for the elephants, but this is yet to be successful, he said.
To truly resolve the problem, Prof Ronglarp said, the park must improve its land management. This will involve reclaiming illegally-encroached land to increase the habitat of the elephants.
“It’s about restoring the capacity that we have seen taken away from wild animals. That needs to be returned as soon as possible to create a balance. The key to this is area management,” Prof Ronglarp said.
This will include connecting patchy forests together, taking illegal land plots back, and securing the land for the animals by creating new wildlife sanctuaries or extending the park boundaries.
All these issues, he said, need to be seriously addressed at a policy level, or wild elephants are doomed to disappear from the forests.
A JUMBO SOLUTION
In Khao Yai, which is central to the eastern part of the World Heritage Site of Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex, human-elephant conflicts have been causing a headache for park chief Kanchit Srinoppawan.
Several incidents took place over the New Year holiday, and again just a few days ago. Wild elephants have been coming out of the forest and encountering tourists. They have clashed with vehicles, causing damage and scaring the visitors.
Such incidents were rare in the past. Unlike other parks, Khao Yai has managed to keep a large part of its forest intact without interruptions from human settlements, although the outskirts of the park have reportedly been encroached upon. The park is also divided by roads, especially the Prachin Buri-Khao Yai route, which was built more 50 years ago.
According to the park chief, the fragmentation of Khao Yai forest does not seem to play a role in the problem there, since the forest has long been fragmented and wild animals learned to adapt to the changed environment.
The park is also closed at night to allow the animals to cross the road. But a recent increase in the number of visitors and vehicles entering the park seems to have increased the chances of conflict between man and beast.
Rather than trying to manage the wildlife or habitat, the park chief is focusing on measures to modify human use of the park.
Mr Kanchit told Spectrum the park has deployed more checkpoints along its roads, plus park ranger patrols, with some escorting tourist vehicles to ensure their safety. It is also considering shortening the park's opening hours to allow wildlife to use the forest undisturbed.
But so far, the park has not looked at specific measures to restrict tourists. Mr Kanchit said people must learn to live peacefully with wildlife, saying Khao Yai is a natural habitat that should be respected.
He said the park has been campaigning to educate people about how to respect and avoid interrupting elephants in the wild.
Despite this, a number of people still break the rules and put themselves at risk, Mr Kanchit said, adding that the park may have to invest in installing CCTV. However that would be costly. As a last resort, some elephants which are too wild and fierce may have to be moved out, he said.
“The elephants can come out anywhere they like because this is their home,” Mr Kanchit said. “If people cooperate with us better than they currently do, our job will be much easier.” n