VietNamNet Bridge - In Le Village, situated on the romantic Lac lakeside in Lien Son Town of Dak Lak, there is a man believed to have the most elephants in the Central Highlands.

There are 40 tamed elephants in Dak Lak province

Dan Nang Long owns seven out of nearly 40 tamed elephants in Dak Lak province. 

Long said he has a natural association with elephants. In his childhood, he began following his father, Dan Nang Nhan, a famous hunter, to hunt and tame elephants.

At that time, not only Long’s father, but all the families in the locality bred elephants. The Lac Lake was then surrounded by old forests, the ideal places for grazing elephants. Therefore, elephants were all big and strong and they helped people carry farm produce and wood. 

When Long grew up, he went to Buon Ma Thuot City to study and work for some tourism companies. However, he finally decided to Le Village to succeed his father in taking care for elephants.

Since 1996, the elephants in Lac district have not been able to reproduce

Long said his family once bred up to 12 elephants at the same time. However, the number of elephants has decreased gradually because the natural forests have been devastated, and the water sources have become polluted and the food sources scarcer.

According to the Dak Lak Elephant Conservation Center, before 1980, there were 70-80 tamed elephants in Dak Lak, but the number has dropped to 40.

Long now breeds seven elephants, valuable assets he is proud of. He not only can talk with them, but also can treat their diseases. He knows what to do to treat cuts and ease the pain, and how to conduct surgery to treat tumors.

Long once drip-fed and successfully rescued the life of Y Khun, one of his favorite elephants, when it became exhausted.

According to Long, the number of travelers to the Central Highlands has been increasing rapidly over the last 15 years since Highway No 27 linking Buon Ma Thuot city with Lac district and Lam Dong province was upgraded.

Long decided to provide elephant-riding service to travelers. He persuaded local families to cooperate to breed elephants for tourism purposes to improve their incomes.

However, Long said he was worried about the existence of elephants. As elephants have been forced to work too hard, they are getting exhausted.

“I am afraid that the elephants may become extinct in the Central Highlands after 20 years if the conservation cannot be better,” he said.

What worries Long most is that natural forests around Lac Lake have been seriously devastated. This means the habitat for elephants has been damaged. 

“Since 1996, the elephants in Lac district have not been able to reproduce,” he said.