Parks and wildlife officials say their efforts to prevent wild elephants from intruding on communities in Prachin Buri province have been a success, with “Sorapong”, the most problematic bull, sent back to its habitat.
The operation to restrain about 40 wandering wild elephants involved more than 200 people including veterinarians, animal husbandry officers and crew, said Atthapol Charoenchansa, diredtor-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP).
It began on Thursday and ended early Friday morning when Sorapong was sedated and transferred to the Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary in Chachoengsao, he said.
The department had been tracking the elephants since a fatal attack on a local resident on Dec 11.
The animals had been congregating in the 800-rai Sadao forest nearby, according to Mr Atthapol.
He said the team had previously tried to scare the elephants away and coerce them back into their habitat in the Khao Ang Rue Nai sanctuary, located in Phanom Sarakham district of Chachoengsao, to no avail.
“Amid the confrontation between the wild elephants and local communities, finding proper measures to end the problem has been a major challenge,” he said.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment made ending the elephant-human conflict an urgent priority, he added.
It recently came up with a birth control plan for wild elephants, but this saw strong opposition given the potential risk to their health.
Mr Atthapol insisted birth control would not harm the wild population, adding it will be closely monitored by experts.
Last year, the department introduced a pilot project that involved administering birth control vaccines to seven wild elephants, in cooperation with the Chiang Mai University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. It said there were no negative side effects.
The department is preparing to expand the project to areas where elephants and humans have been coming into contact frequently, including the Khao Ang Rue Nai sanctuary.
Since 2012, 240 people have been killed and 208 injured from elephant attacks in Thailand.
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