On July 1, Mr. Weerapat Phatnarakun, 71, owner of Ban Rai Saen Rak durian plantation revealed that in the middle of the night, an elephant nicknamed “Big Brother” living near the boundary line of Kaeng Krachan National Park smelled the smell of durian and invaded and shook 10 trees, giving an average of 3 weight of durian per fruit. For a weight of 4 kg, more than 30 fruits fell. The total damage amounted to tens of thousands of baht. About a month earlier, a wild elephant invaded and ate 6 durian trees in their garden, which had to be monitored and prevented, but due to the large number of durian fruits put on the market during this period, about 5-6 workers had to sleep. Sleep deprivation to rush to cut the durian fruit until tired Every plantation owner in the vicinity where elephants come out to eat durian must make up for it and use the same old method of repulsion, which is to throw the elephants with their thumbs, but elephants are used to not being afraid of people. Although the production of durian in La-U is large this year, the price has dropped from last year due to the economic situation. People have no purchasing power. So they had to cut and sell Suan Ton durian themselves, which are sold in Pak Nam Pran at 150 baht per kg.
For his part, General Krit Phuangvalaisin, chief of Hua Hin district, said he initially coordinated the inspection of the administrative organization of Huai Sat Yai sub-district and paid compensation to durian growers who were affected by wild elephants from Kaeng Krachan that invaded and damaged them.
