The Vietnamese authorities said yesterday that a 59-year-old female elephant living in the Central Highlands region had died after she was carrying tourists and touring them for sightseeing trips for many years.
The director of the "Elephants Protection Center" in the Dac Lak province, Hyun Truong Luan, said that the elephants "heban" died because of their advanced age, and had been suffering from some dental problems for several months, which made eating difficult for them.
A female elephant, and villagers, held a burial ceremony for her.
Elephants were born in 1962, and they were tamed and used to serve tourists for a long period of time.