belgareth
12-18-2004, 05:19 PM
This article was really funny. The idea of a bunch of elephants hijacking food trucks is priceless. :rofl:
Thai Pachyderms Ambush Food Trucks
Sat Dec 18, 5:56 AM ET Science - AP
By
SUTIN WANNABOVORN, Associated Press Writer
KHAO-ANG RUE-NI,
Thailand - These pachyderms aren't just going after peanuts.
Elephants in a wildlife sanctuary in eastern Thailand are using their oversize bodies as road blocks,
ambushing vehicles transporting sugar cane, tapioca and fruit, the sanctuary's chief says.
The estimated 200 elephants in the Khao-Ang Rue-Ni sanctuary turn desperate — and
wily — in the dry season, when water and food supplies shrink. It's then that the animals stage their heists, Yuo
Senatham said.
Conveniently enough for the elephants, the dry
season is also when hundreds of trucks travel through their lands, laden with newly harvested tapioca and sugar
cane.
According to Yuo, a herd leader usually emerges from the
jungle at dusk to block the road. When a vehicle stops, other elephants move in for the feast.
Signs urging motorists not to feed the elephants don't seem to be doing the trick.
"It's like the drivers are bribing the elephants — otherwise the
elephants won't allow trucks to pass through," Yuo said
The
elephants, who have never hurt a motorist, sound a general retreat when wildlife officials arrive to scare them away
with spotlights.
The sanctuary chief says he can't prevent the
elephants from roaming near the road because the area used to belong to them.
"What we can do is prevent them from getting hurt and hurting people," Yuo said.
The Thai army cut the road through the 270,000-acre sanctuary in the 1980s to help
ferry supplies to insurgents fighting the Cambodian government, Yuo said.
There are some 3,000 wild elephants in Thailand, according to the Forestry Department.
Thai Pachyderms Ambush Food Trucks
Sat Dec 18, 5:56 AM ET Science - AP
By
SUTIN WANNABOVORN, Associated Press Writer
KHAO-ANG RUE-NI,
Thailand - These pachyderms aren't just going after peanuts.
Elephants in a wildlife sanctuary in eastern Thailand are using their oversize bodies as road blocks,
ambushing vehicles transporting sugar cane, tapioca and fruit, the sanctuary's chief says.
The estimated 200 elephants in the Khao-Ang Rue-Ni sanctuary turn desperate — and
wily — in the dry season, when water and food supplies shrink. It's then that the animals stage their heists, Yuo
Senatham said.
Conveniently enough for the elephants, the dry
season is also when hundreds of trucks travel through their lands, laden with newly harvested tapioca and sugar
cane.
According to Yuo, a herd leader usually emerges from the
jungle at dusk to block the road. When a vehicle stops, other elephants move in for the feast.
Signs urging motorists not to feed the elephants don't seem to be doing the trick.
"It's like the drivers are bribing the elephants — otherwise the
elephants won't allow trucks to pass through," Yuo said
The
elephants, who have never hurt a motorist, sound a general retreat when wildlife officials arrive to scare them away
with spotlights.
The sanctuary chief says he can't prevent the
elephants from roaming near the road because the area used to belong to them.
"What we can do is prevent them from getting hurt and hurting people," Yuo said.
The Thai army cut the road through the 270,000-acre sanctuary in the 1980s to help
ferry supplies to insurgents fighting the Cambodian government, Yuo said.
There are some 3,000 wild elephants in Thailand, according to the Forestry Department.