Trench to protect wild elephants

The declaration was signed yesterday by eight state agencies, the WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF) Thailand, the Kui Buri Wild Elephant Conservation and Environment and Tambon Hat Kham Administrative Organisation.
It originated from His Majesty the King’s idea – expressed on July 5, 1999 – for a conservation strategy to rehabilitate the 18,000 rai of agriculture lands, deemed the Kui Buri Forest encroachment, to be the home and food source for elephants and other wildlife.
“Elephants should be in forest but the forest should have enough food for them. [The answer] is to grow food plants for them in small plots spreading in the forest. If elephants wander to the edge of the forest they should be provided security,” according to the royal idea.
The surveys by WWF Thailand and state agencies have revealed a challenge from climate change, which has caused drought in Kui Buri district for the third year in a row.
The grass meadow for wildlife couldn’t depend only on rain and dew so a large herd of elephants hunted for food around the edge of forest near Pran Buri district. Farmers there weren’t committed not to harm them, leading to news of elephant killing.
Prachuap Khiri Khan Governor Weera Sriwattanatrakul said concerted efforts in the province led to a number of measures, including the long-term solution of digging the trench along the forest bordering farmlands. The project would stop elephants from entering farmlands, serve as a water source for elephants and farmers, help the authorities’ food creation for elephants, promote tourism and create a clear territory of forestland and farmland.
The declaration was in line with the elephant food creation guideline of building a grass meadow, eradicating weeds, creating artificial salt licks and constructing dykes to maintain moisture in the soil.
WWF Thailand and state agencies would continue surveying farmlands along the forest edges, drawing up memorandums of understanding between the Kui Buri National Park and elephant-affected farmers, and dispatching a special unit to support the farmers’ elephant watch, and returning wandering elephants to the forest.