just wonder if many Lao male have the same feeling like these elephants for this coming winter!



Female elephants needed in Huaphan

Male elephants in Huaphan province are feeling a bit lonely without any female company, an official from the province said yesterday.

“Our elephants have little pleasure in their lives,” the official from the Provincial Forest Section, Mr Khomsikham Sisomhak, said.

He said mature elephants even cry when there are no female elephants to compete for in the forest.

According to the Forestry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the population of wild elephants in South-East Asia is believed to number around only 1,000, of which 70 percent are in Laos . These Asian elephants live to about 60 or 70 years of age in the wild.

Mr Khomsikham said there are only three male elephants in the forest conservation area of Xamtay district in Huaphan province, and they are all quite old.

As there is no shortage of food in the area, forestry officials are hoping to bring in some female elephants from another province.

To prevent elephant extinction in the area, provincial authorities are developing a national programme for the integration of elephant management and rural livelihood improvement.

The authorities are attempting to reduce elephant and human conflicts, and provincial forest departments are cracking down on the illegal wildlife trade.

By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
Vientianetimes