VietNamNet Bridge – A wild elephant was found hacked to death with its tusk cut off in the southern province of Dong Nai last Friday, local authorities have said.

It was the ninth elephant to be killed in the province since 2009.

The five-tonne elephant was found in Tan Phu Protective Forest with multiple stab wounds with one tusk missing.

According to the Tan Phu Protective Forest Management Board, the elephant had sustained an injury to its foot and had been left behind by its herd that moved on to Buon Don Forest in the Central Highland province of Dak Lak.

Last Saturday, local police worked with forest management officials to survey the case. Just eight metres from the scene, police officials found bones piled in a heap near a bonfire.

Head of the management board Luu Ngoc Tan told the Vietnam News Agency that parts of the elephant's skull had been hacked off.

The death of the elephant has raised alarm over the preservation of wild elephants, that have been reported to have threatened local residents and destroy crops. A lack of habitat and food have been blamed for the situation.

Around 15 wild elephants currently live in the province.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News