NEW VIDEO: Forest Destruction Drives Elephants Out of the Jungle

Recently, a private company received a permit to clear 27,000 acres of forest along Road 48 for a rubber plantation.  As work proceeded and more and more jungle was destroyed, Wildlife Alliance received word that herds of wild elephants were being driven out of the jungle and visiting the workmen’s camps.  Company workers at three different forest clearing sites reported that herds of elephants had been coming to the camps at night and staying until dawn. 

With this knowledge, Wildlife and Alliance explored the forest area further and found evidence of another herd was living 30km south of the encampments.  This herd lost their home base a year ago when a 20km stretch of rainforest along the coast was cleared.  This herd of 20-30 elephants came to entrance of Tanun village—located next to the area of cleared forest—last week.  Villagers reported to WA that this was the first time elephants had ever been seen this close to the village.  A large male with ivory tusks has been seen there three times in the last week and was caught on camera by one of the villagers.  With each reappearance, he became a larger threat to the village while also presenting as an easy target for poaching to sell his ivory tusks.  Plans were hatched to kill him.  That’s when Wildlife Alliance stepped in.

CEO Suwanna Gauntlett flew to the area to meet with villagers and company workers to get details on exactly what was going on.  She then met with the provincial and company military police as they are the most likely to perpetrate the killing as well as the only force capable of preventing it.  In a presentation made to company workers, WA reminded them that killing elephants is illegal and passed out flyers to help reinforce this idea.  For now, the situation remains peaceful.

The Southern Cardamom Mountains are home to one of Asia’s last seven remaining elephant corridors.  Wildlife Alliance’s work to end elephant poaching and preserve the corridor has led to a 98% reduction to elephant deaths—only four have been killed in the last ten years.  However, elephants have never been seen this close to human settlements in the Cardamoms before.  This means that deforestation continues and that elephant deaths at the hands of humans and due to loss of habitat could rise.  It is vital that WA continue its work protecting the forest in order to insure the survival of the Asian elephant in Cambodia.