Rayong issues wild-elephant warning

By Pattaya Mail

October 17, 2020

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A wild elephant reaches into a house in Rayong, looking for food. Rayong officials put out an elephant warning, telling people to stay away from male jumbos during breeding season.

Rayong officials put out an elephant warning, telling people to stay away from male jumbos during breeding season.

Male elephants are much more aggressive this time of year during “musth,” or heat, when their reproductive hormones spike.

Wildlife officers in Ban Khai monitored wild elephants munching on crops in Khlong Nam Dang, in neighboring Pluak Daeng Oct. 15.

Officials made loud noises to scare the jumbos away from the cocktail trees, cassava, tufted fishtail palm and sugar cane, hoping they’d leave the villages and go back into the forest.

They then followed the animals to see if they were agitated.

Officers warned farmers and other locals to stay far away from male elephants as they are in “musth,” or heat, with higher reproductive hormones and aggressiveness.