epa11590811 Tourists ride an elephant across the Lak Lake, in Lak district, Dak Lak Province, Vietnam, 29 August 2024 (issued 07 September 2024). For generations, villagers of the Vietnamese province of Dak Lak have used elephants for agriculture, transport, festivals and to ride tourists visiting their local Yok Don National Park. Today the park, Vietnam’s second-largest, proudly pioneers an elephant-friendly tourism model, after signing an agreement with the animal welfare organization Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) in 2018. Of the 14 domestic elephants involved in AAF's elephant conservation project, 10 are now free to roam in their natural habitat, while four others are being cared for at the Dak Lak Elephant Conservation Centre (ECC). Rescued from captivity, the animals spend a few months in the Dak Lak ECC established in 2017, before being let free in the park, carefully watched by mahouts. Mahout Y Gai Knul observed how the new model has brought a lot of positive changes for the elephants, making them less stressed, improving their overall health and extending their lifetime. However, villagers from the nearby Lak district have seen how the elephant-riding ban in the park has fueled rides for tourists on the other side of the province. ¨I think the main problem is providing an alternative income to the elephant owners," says Ryan Hockley, an elephant welfare advisor for Animals Asia. "As long as we make sure that we consider the needs of the owners alongside the needs of the elephants, then I'm sure we can move forward". The Asian elephant population in the wild dropped drastically in Vietnam, and by the beginning of the last decade conservationists warned there were around 100 of them. According to the ECC, more than 500 domestic elephants roamed the Dak Lak province in the 1980s. Today only 36 remain, primarily in the Buon Don and Lak districts, and no elephant has been successfully born in captivity over 30 years. EPA/LUONG THAI LINH ATTENTION: Thi
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