VietNamNet Bridge – Y Tat Knul, 56, often leads his elephant Bun Koong to bathe and soak in the stream to escape the heat of the summer. For him, Bun Koong is a member of the family. 

Sipping juice in a small café in Ha Noi in early June, Willem Schaftenaar relaxes before his flight home to the Netherlands. Previously, he was busy in Ban Don Village in Dak Lak Province’s Buon Don District

The elephants in Buon Don (Don Village), the kingdom of tamed elephants in Vietnam, are too old and weak, and are no longer fertile so the herd of domestic elephants in Buon Don is facing the threat of becoming endangered.

Since hydro-power plants were built on the Serepok River, the 20km segment running through Daklak Province – the kingdom of tamed elephants in Vietnam – has dried up, causing problems for the local tourism industry and local people.

VietNamNet Bridge - Doctors and experts of Asia Animals have arrived in Vietnam to treat diseases and wounds of tamed elephants.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The director of a travel firm, Mr. Dang Nang Long, resigned to return to his home village in Dak Lak Province to succeed his father in helping to conserve domestic elephants.

After the country’s liberation, the total number of tamed elephants in Dak Lak Province, the kingdom of domestic elephants in Vietnam, numbered over 500. At present, there are only 50 old elephants, which are being overexploited to serve tourists.

 VietNamNet Bridge - Kham Phet Lao - a Mnong ethnic man from Dak Lak province - has presented more than 20 tools used to hunt and tame wild elephants to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology.

 VietNamNet Bridge - On the morning of March 13, at the ongoing Central Highland Festival in Dak Lak province, elephants were divided into two groups to make penalty shots.

VietNamNet Bridge – At weekends, visitors flock to Don Village (Dak Lak) to see elephants, ride elephants and to buy “special products.”

VietNamNet Bridge - On November 23, the Dak Lak Province Museum opened the photo exhibition under the theme: "The last domestic elephants in the Central Highlands," with more than 80 photos.