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Quote:WILDLIFE / DROUGHT PUTS ELEPHANTS IN PERIL
Food shortages force jumbos out of jungles

POST REPORTERS

Severe drought and slash-and-burn farming practices are forcing wild elephants to come out of their natural habitats in search of food, activists say. ''The drought crisis, coupled with ecologically destructive farming practices, pose a major threat to natural sources of food and shelter for elephants in the wild,'' said Soraida Salwala, founder of the Friends of the Asian Elephant group, in an interview with the Bangkok Post.

''Undoubtedly, the drastic climate change is now a cause of concern because if it drags on and worsens, the well-being of hundreds of elephants will be in jeopardy,'' she said.

In Kanchanaburi province, Pinan Chotiroseranee, president of the Kanchanaburi Conservation Group, blamed a mass exodus of wild elephants into the outside world on human encroachment on their natural habitat in the Salak Phra wildlife sanctuary, which is currently experiencing a serious shortage of water.

On average, an adult elephant drinks between 150-200 litres of water and eats some 200 kilogrammes of food daily. Therefore, in times of drought wild elephants are forced to come out of their natural habitats to search for food and water. This often results in the animals being injured or killed by people whose farms or plantations are raided.

In Surin, around 87 pachyderms kept at an elephant centre in Tha Tum district are facing a severe shortage of water, as a result of the drought which ravaged 1,594 villages in eleven districts and four sub-districts of this northeastern province.

Centre director Kraisak Worathat said the drought had badly affected some 300 rai of Bana grass grown as elephant food, forcing mahouts to buy sugar cane, corn, and other crops to feed their hungry animals.

Deputy provincial governor Wirat Limsuwat said cloud-seeding operations began on Thursday and would continue for 220 days to produce rain to alleviate water shortages in the lower northeastern region.