Most people are of the opinion that a certain period of time should be fixed for tourists entering and leaving a national park to avoid having problems with wild elephants, according to the result of a survey by the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) published on Sunday.
The suvey was conducted on Jan 14-15 on 1,251 people throughout the country to gather their opinion on how to solve problems between men and wild elephants.
Most or 48.84% of the people survey said a certain period of time should be fixed for tourists entering or leaving a national park and touring inside the park.
The respondents also suggested that wild elephants should be restricted in an area (26.86%); tourists should not be allowed to take their vehicles into the park but use only vehicles provided by the park (21.98%); all national parks should be closed for wildlife (13.11%); the number of tourists visiting the park per day should be limited (11.83%); the national park should be held responsible for damage made by wild elephants (3.76%); and, the number of wild elephants should be controlled and tourists be allowed to use weapons to protect themselves from the animals (1.28%).
On the problems about wild elephants destroying plants and crops of farmers, 48.84% of the respondents said wild elephants should be restricted to an area and 45.40% said there should be a law to forbid farming near a habitat of wild elephants.