Rampaging elephants force Myanmar villagers to tree-top refuges

Residents stand near a tree house in the Kyauk Ye village on the outskirts of Yangon on January 14, 2016Pushed from their forest home by encroaching farm land, wild elephants are driving fearful villagers in a Myanmar township to seek refuge in tree houses while the animals storm their rice paddies looking for food. The elephants have trampled crops, destroyed homes and even, villagers say, killed people in their path — forcing families in Kyat Chuang to build new shelters made of wood and bamboo on higher ground. Villagers in Kyat Chaung, a farming community 100 kilometres north of Yangon, told AFP they yearned for the days before the elephant rampages started three years ago.


January 16, 2016 2:25 pm

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