The Thai government has approved a budget of 749 million baht from the Central Fund to mitigate conflicts between wild elephants and rural communities. The funding, managed by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, aims to reduce human-elephant encounters, which have resulted in deaths, injuries, and property damage.
According to department statistics, since October 2024, wild elephant attacks have led to 18 deaths and 13 injuries. This follows 39 fatalities and 18 injuries recorded in the previous fiscal year. In March alone, incidents included a park ranger killed and another injured in Phu Luang Wildlife Sanctuary, Phetchabun province, as well as an elderly woman fatally attacked in a durian plantation near Khao Kitchakut National Park, Chanthaburi province.
Department Director-General Atthaphon Charoenchansa emphasized the need to address the crisis from both conservation and human impact perspectives. He noted that elephants frequently leave their natural habitats in search of food, encroaching on farms and orchards.
The allocated funds will support measures such as digging trenches and constructing barriers to keep elephants within protected areas. Additionally, resources will be directed towards planting edible vegetation inside habitats, increasing manpower to manage roaming elephants, establishing centers to modify the behavior of aggressive animals, and developing vaccines to regulate elephant populations.
Atthaphon stated that the department typically receives around 190 million baht annually for wildlife conflict management, including 150 million baht in investment funding. However, he acknowledged that these resources have been insufficient to fully address the scale of damage caused by elephants each year.
Government officials and conservation experts attended the discussions on the new funding plan, underscoring the urgency of finding sustainable solutions to the growing human-elephant conflict.
