The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) has asked the government for a 50-million-baht budget to compensate people whose lives have been affected by conflicts with wild elephants.
The aim is to reduce conflicts between humans and wild elephants, said Phadet Laithong, director of the Wildlife Conservation Office of the DNP.
The DNP estimates that the number of wild elephants nationwide has increased from 3,500-4,000 in 2018 to 4,013-4,422 at present. From 2015 to the beginning of 2024, 180 people were injured, and 202 were killed due to wild elephant attacks, the DNP said.
Recently, about 150 wild elephants strayed into farmlands and communities from the forest in Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary in Chachoengsao, looking for food. As a result, crops were damaged, and people's lives were affected.
Mr Phadet said the DNP estimated that 592 wild elephants live in the wildlife sanctuary. The number was higher than the documented 492 elephants in 2018, he said.
After the wild elephants were driven back into the forest, about 100 rangers from the DNP's Protected Area Region Offices in Prachin Buri and Si Racha in Chon Buri began patrolling the forest border to prevent the mammals from returning until the end of April, he said.
"We need to have strong measures to prevent wild elephants from leaving protected areas," he said. One of these includes having a centre to manage the movement of wild elephants.
On Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pol Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwan told Capt Rachata Phisitbanakorn, his vice-minister, to visit the sanctuary together with DNP director-general Athapol Charoenshunsa.
Capt Rachata held a meeting with directors of the DNP's Protected Area Regional Office in the eastern provinces to tackle the elephant issue.
The initial action is to establish an emergency group to drive wild elephants back into the forest and prevent them from leaving protected areas, said Mr Phadet.