Taming tuskers

Deputy provincial governor Chaiwat Limpwantha, said the 536,594rai sanctuary covers areas of Muang, Bo Ploi, and Si Sawat districts where 38 villages on the perimeter of the sanctuary are being affected by the elephants.

The fields of corn, tapioca and sugarcane attract the beasts and provide them with an easy meal during the dry season.

Protecting crops

Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary chief Metha Santikul told the meeting that three things had driven the elephants to look for food outside the sanctuary: disturbance of their habitat; increasing scarcity of food and water sources; and the encroachment of farmers' fields.

Metha said that among the six measures that had been implemented were patrols and wire fences to block the elephants' routes out of the forest. A fourkilometrelong ditch has also been dug to protect  farmlands, while the "Bring the Elephant Home Foundation" has helped in planting 10,000 trees as a source of food for the creatures. Three kilometres of electric fence provide another line of de¬fence, he added.