DAR ES SALAAM, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian authorities said Friday plans are underway to collar elephants to enable game rangers to track stray elephants that raid farm crops and residential areas.

"The collaring of elephants will enable game rangers to respond in real-time before the animals raid residential areas and wreak havoc on farm crops," said Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Mary Masanja.

Masanja announced the collaring of the elephants when she visited Goha, Kwalukonge and Kweisewa villages, all in Tanga region's Korogwe district, which have been victims of elephant raids.

The deputy minister said since the collaring of elephants is an expensive undertaking, it will only be done in hotspot areas where elephant raids occur regularly.

The collars include Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) tracking devices that are placed around an elephant's neck to monitor their movements and behavior as well as to assist with conservation actions.

On July 19, Tanzania's Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Pindi Chana said 19 centers will be built across the country for controlling straying wild animals that damage farm crops.

She said game rangers will be deployed to the centers to respond to raids by the wild animals on residential areas and farm crops.

In May, Chana said the wild animals, including elephants, lions and hippos, were reported to invade villages in at least the country's 53 districts out of 134 districts. - Xinhua