Food Base for Migrating Elephants Helps Prevent Conflict with Farmers

• Elephants from different parts of the globe travel vast distances during their yearly migration.
• To prevent them from raiding villages and farmlands on the way, Chinese wildlife authorities set up a “food base” along their migration route.
• The 670,000-sq.m. reserve provides food and respite to the migrating elephants.

Migrating elephants now have a dedicated “food base” during their journey, thanks to Chinese wildlife authorities.

The Jinghong Nature Reserve, which spans 670,000 square meters (roughly the size of 62 European football fields), is home to different kinds of plants that satisfy the elephant’s dietary needs. It also has five salty ponds.

In Southwest #China's Yunnan Province, a 670,000 square meter base, also dubbed "elephants' dining hall" opened recently.

Specializing in supplying food to #elephants, the base has a large amount of plants and five salt pools and will improve the living conditions of elephants. pic.twitter.com/oflyQY1MRa— 杜晓晖DU Xiaohui (@DGAfrica_MFA) September 13, 2021

Each year, elephants from different parts of the globe travel vast distances.

But since they have no concept of territorial borders or land ownership, they can bring trouble to the owners of the farm where they decide to rest and eat.

The Asian elephants in Jinghong have been granted protected status since the end of the last century. But this has caused them to grow in number from 85 to 185, resulting in even greater conflict with farmers during migrations.

Authorities carefully selected the food base location to make sure the elephants would cross it whenever they migrate. They then started setting it up last December and completed it in May.

Cha Wei, the reserve’s deputy director, said that the “dining hall” or “food base” aims to eliminate the elephants’ need to raid villages and farmlands, thereby avoiding conflicts between the locals and the animals.

According to the news agency Xinhua, 14 elephants trekked 500 kilometers over 17 months last year.

All of them, including a calf that was born along the way, have since safely returned to their traditional habitat of Mojiang County in Yunnan.

Source: Good News Network