Unique combination of more than 15,000 animal traps into a pair of wild elephants in Nghe An

bna_van truong 1.JPG — The mother and baby elephants were bred from wild animal traps in Pu Mat National Park. Photo: Van Truong

In a corner of Pu Mat National Park, from afar we can see the image of a mother and baby elephant leisurely “walking”. When we get closer, we can see that these two elephants were meticulously woven from wild animal traps.

Mr. Le Anh Tuan - Deputy Director of Pu Mat National Park said: In 2023, during a field trip to Pu Mat National Park, lecturers and students of Hanoi University of Architecture asked to design a pair of mother and baby elephants, made from wild animal traps removed and confiscated by the rangers of Pu Mat National Park.

bna_van truong 2.JPG — Many wild animal traps were put into the "elephant's" stomach. Photo: Van Truong

After the design was completed, more than 15,000 traps were dismantled from 2018 until now and stored in the warehouse, and brought out to form pairs of wild elephants.

To complete this pair of mother and baby elephants, lecturers and students of Hanoi University of Architecture, along with staff and workers of Pu Mat National Park and forest protection households, worked hard for more than 10 days. The remaining 3,000 traps were placed in the belly of the mother and baby elephants. The wild animal traps used to “tie elephants” were mainly clamp traps, noose-wire traps, spear traps, etc.

bna_van truong 4.JPG — This pair of iron elephants was meticulously made from animal traps. Photo: Van Truong

Mr. Le Anh Tuan added: The display of a pair of elephants with wild animal traps here sends a message to tourists and locals not to use traps to hunt wild animals and to protect wild animals.

Pu Mat National Park covers an area of over 94,275 hectares, spread over 3 districts: Tuong Duong, Con Cuong and Anh Son. The park has 82 species of 33 families belonging to the classes of mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles. Of these, there are 48 endangered and rare species, 26 species are listed in the Vietnam Red Book, 21 species are listed in the IUCN Red List...

bna_van truong 3.jpeg — Pu Mat National Park rangers patrol the forest and remove animal traps. Photo: Van Truong

bna_van truong 1.jpeg — Forest rangers of Pu Mat National Park remove an animal trap in the forest. Photo: Van Truong

In the Park area, there are often cases of people from all over using traps and guns to illegally hunt rare wild animals. Since the beginning of 2024, the rangers of Pu Mat National Park have removed and destroyed over 400 traps of various types, along with hunting guns and weapons used to hunt wild animals such as spears, nooses, etc.

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