Thailand has begun deploying a birth-control vaccine for elephants in the wild as part of a strategy to reduce dangerous encounters between people and elephants in areas where farms and settlements have expanded into forested habitat, according to Thai wildlife officials.
The plan comes as conflicts escalate in places where elephants increasingly look for food outside shrinking ranges. As farmers cut down forests to create more farmland, wild elephants are pushed farther from their natural habitats, setting the stage for confrontations that can turn deadly.
The initiative is tied to figures cited by Thai authorities showing the toll of the problem last year: wild elephants killed 30 people, injured 29, and were involved in more than 2,000 incidents of elephants damaging crops, the Associated Press reported.
Sukhee Boonsang, director of Thailand’s Wildlife Conservation Office, said controlling the wild elephant population has become necessary as more elephants live near residential areas, raising the risk of clashes, according to the AP. He also said the office targets only wild elephants in areas with the highest rates of violent human-elephant conflict.
Boonsang said the office obtained 25 doses of a U.S.-made vaccine and ran a two-year trial using seven domesticated elephants, which used up seven doses. He told the AP that the vaccine does not stop female elephants from ovulating, but instead prevents fertilized eggs from developing.
In late January, the vaccination program moved from the trial setting to the wild. Boonsang said authorities administered the vaccine to three wild elephants in eastern Trat province, and that officials were determining which areas to target next as they prepare to use the remaining 15 doses.
He said the vaccine can prevent pregnancy for seven years, and that experts would monitor the vaccinated elephants closely throughout that period, according to the AP. The elephants could reproduce again if they do not receive a booster after the seven-year time window expires.
The vaccination drive has also drawn criticism, with opponents arguing it could undermine conservation efforts, according to the AP. Boonsang defended the approach as a targeted response to areas where conflicts are most intense, and he said official statistics show a birth rate of wild elephants in those regions at approximately 8.2% per year—more than double the national average of around 3.5%.
Boonsang said about 800 out of Thailand’s roughly 4,400 wild elephants live in those conflict-prone areas. He added that without action, the impacts on people in those regions would continue to grow “until it becomes unmanageable,” in remarks he made to the AP.
Alongside the contraception vaccine, authorities have implemented additional measures to reduce human-elephant conflict. Boonsang said the government has expanded water and food sources within forests where elephants live, constructed protective fencing, and deployed rangers to guide elephants that stray into residential areas back into the wild.
The push for new conflict-reduction steps also comes after a recent operation sparked public outcry. Earlier this month, a court-ordered effort to remove wild elephants that had repeatedly clashed with locals in northeastern Khon Kaen province led to one elephant dying during relocation, according to the AP. Officials said an initial autopsy found the elephant died from choking after anesthesia was administered ahead of the move.
The relocation operation was carried out by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. Its director general, Athapol Charoenshunsa, expressed regret over the incident while saying protocol was followed properly and that an investigation was underway to prevent such events from recurring, the AP reported.