Listen to this articleA herd of wild elephants moves through a forest in Trat province in eastern Thailand. (Photo: Thailand Wildlife Conservation Office via AFP)Thailand has given a contraceptive vaccine to wild elephants for the first time in an effort to control their ballooning population, a conservation official said on Wednesday. Veterinarians and officials administered the vaccines using a dart gun without anaesthesia, the conservation office said in a statement. Wild elephant numbers in Thailand rose from 334 in 2015 to almost 800 last year, with thousands more in captivity. The shots, which do not alter the elephants’ behaviour or physical features, only regulate their hormone levels to keep them from conceiving.
