Society
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HCM CITY — NGO Animals Asia on Monday agreed to provide US$50,000 for elephant conservation efforts in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk.
The money will go to the Đắk Lắk Elephant Conservation Centre to improve the quality of care and competence in elephant conservation.
Under a one-year project that ends next year, Animals Asia will also dispatch experts and veterinarians to support the centre in design and construction of the facility and provide training for its veterinarians and staff.
The project helps rescue injured elephants, both wild and captive.
Campaigns to raise public awareness about the conservation of elephants and wildlife protection in the province are also part of the project.
The number of wild elephants in the country has fallen to below 100, Huỳnh Trung Luân, director of the centre, said.
They are endangered by poaching and loss of habitat due to agriculture and forestry projects as well as deforestation for farming, he said.
Captive elephants are kept in inadequate conditions and not given nutritious food but overworked to provide entertainment for tourists, he said.
A total of 43 captive elephants in the province with an average age of more than 40 have not reproduced for the last 10 years, he added.
Tuấn Bendixsen, Animals Asia Vietnam director, said his organisation would assist the centre in conserving the remaining population of elephants and improve care and for captive elephants. — VNS
