The last two years were a  happy time for Dak Lak domesticated elephants as they did not have to work hard because of the pandemic and there were few travelers. However, they still face problems as they are chained or released in areas with little food, where they are at risk of being attacked by wild elephants.

Lacking food, the elephants cannot gain weight. Meanwhile, they have to work to serve travelers. As a result, they have become exhausted. The tourism riding has clearly affected elephants’ health, life expectancy and number of elephants in the locality.

“The elephants are getting old. We are afraid that elephants will no longer exist in 15-20 years,” said a mahout.

In 2009, Dak Lak province established an elephant conservation center. However, the number is decreasing.

Dak Lak plans to spend VND55 billion to stop the elephant riding model, and owners, mahouts, and elephant care centers will be given support to take care of the elephants.

Tran Xuan Phuoc, director of the Dak Lak Center for Elephant Center, Animal Rescue and Forest Protection, said the money for the project is funded by AAF. The time for project implementation is from November 2022 to December 2026 in Buon Don (the Yok Don National Park, elephant conservation and animal rescue and local tourism companies) and Lak district.

AFF will provide money, directly control and supervise the aid, fund the project through activities of specialists, and give technical and financial assistance to the center, institutions and individuals to participate in the project. 

In December 2021, Dak Lak provincial authorities and AAF signed a cooperation agreement on fighting violence and offering an elephant-friendly tourism model. 

The two sides agreed to discuss and find solutions so that competitions using elephants such as playing soccer, running and marching for many hours on hot asphalt roads would stop.

The money funded by AAF will be used by provincial authorities to pay to elephant owners and mahouts to offset decreases in revenue caused by stopping elephant exploitation.

Elephant riding has affected the health, life expectancy and number of herds of elephants in Dak Lak. There are only 140 elephants left in the province, a 90 percent decrease compared with 1980.

In July 2018, Animals Asia funded a project on shifting to elephant-friendly tourism at Yok Don National Park ($65.000).

Ha Nguyen