Elephants are dangerous

They dont seem to like monks. Wonder if its the orange.

Here in Nakhon Nayok there are elephants roaming nightly. Over the past few weeks they have come into our garden around 10 times. This is what I found this morning when I checked why the dogs were barking. I've been living here for over 10 years, for the first few we only heard rumours they were in the area. Then a few years ago they started to become common. Is it similar in other parts of the country? 
   

If you are close to the forest edge it seems to be common. You probably know wangbon reservoir? Have a walk around there once it's open again and you can find a lot of signs of elephant activity and that's right on the edge of the forest. I think they are coming out because there is fruit growing everywhere. Some protected areas and farmers are coordinating to put up electric fences to keep the animals out. Kui buri national park is a good example of this. On the road in you will see electric fences around most of the fields. It's not just the elephants, it's the gaur too in many places. If you are ever at huai narok waterfall in khao yai national park they have a display under a shelter in the carpark and it shows where elephants have been tracked (i assume gps collars). They have a map with dots all over it and some are outside the boundary of the national park/forest.

 

the red line is park boundary, the bright green is grassland.

We are on the south eastern border of the park, which looking at the map has a decent concentration. Rather than electric fences, I just put the plastic bag along the wire. Apparently the elephants are associate this with electricity and keep away. Certainly working so far. I remember my first trips into the park in 2009 we never saw elephants, now it's common. I read numbers had doubled in the ten years between 05 and 15. Below is a video taken last year in Royal Hills golf course. It's got to the stage where I have to be careful walking the dogs.

It's definetely seasonal, with more in the hot and early rainy season. I haven't seen any for weeks, however I still here the fireworks for when they are chasing them away.