Restless elephants send villagers fleeing

In a rural village in southern Myanmar, rampaging elephants have forced villagers to move to the trees to avoid being trampled.

The villagers of Taik Kyi, about 70 kilometres from Yangon, built the tree houses when the elephants began to move into town over a decade ago.

Now, with deforestation forcing ever more beasts into the area, the locals scramble nimbly up ladders into the makeshift structures whenever they visit.

U Sein Than, 50, a farmer, says it is about protection. ‘‘The elephants run into the houses when they are looking for food. If you go near to them, they will chase you. Even if you run in a zigzag, the elephants will always stamp on you,’’ he said.

The villagers say 40 people have died in the area as a result of the elephants in the last eight years and two nearby villages have been abandoned.

‘‘If three elephants come, they will destroy two acres of rice paddy,’’ said U Sein Than. ‘‘My farming business is like a lottery. If I cultivate 100 per cent of the rice, I will only get 30 per cent of it because of the elephants.’’

In recent years conflict between elephants and humans has become more common, as deforestation has spread, leaving the elephants homeless. Aung San Suu Kyi’s government has already imposed a year-long logging ban.

But in Taik Kyi, villagers fear the ban could worsen their plight. At least 2500 elephants work in the official logging industry and many more may work in the illegal logging industry. And now many are unemployed, and restless.

Dr Christy Williams, Myanmar director of the WWF, said: ‘‘The ban is very much needed, but just keeping these elephants, and their mahouts [human keepers], inactive is not going to work. How are 2500 elephants going to be fed if they are not working?’’