Burmese government burns illegal wildlife products worth $1.3 million in bid to deter traffickers

Law enforcement authorities in Burma have incinerated seized wildlife crime products with an estimated value of $1.3 million as part of wider crackdown on animal part trafficking.

Officials from the country’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation ceremonially set fire to a huge pyre of confiscated trafficked products made from animal parts, including elephant tusks, antelope horn and pangolin scales.

The items included 277 products made from ivory, 227 elephant and other wildlife’s bones, 45 pieces of different wildlife skins, 1,544 animal horns, 45.5kgs of pangolin scales, and 128 varieties of other animal parts.

Speaking during the ceremony, Burma’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation U Ohn Win said: “”It is crucial to sustainably conserve our country’s natural resources, including land, water, forest, mountains and wildlife, for the sake of our future generations. We designate and establish protected areas for biodiversity conservation.”

The ministry said the ceremony was organised to help raise awareness of the threat posed by wildlife smuggling in Burma, and to dissuade people who might be tempted to become involved in the trafficking trade.

Burma is a major hub for wildlife smugglers, who use the country as a base from which to traffic illegal items made from animal parts to China and other Asian nations.

In a report published earlier this week, conservation charity Save the Elephants revealed that China’s recent crackdown on the ivory trade had fuelled a “prolific growth” in the illicit animal parts trade in the Burma-China border town of Mong La.

The study found that the number of new ivory items found for sale in the town had grown by 63% over the course of the past three years, and now accounts for over a third of the ivory seen in the country.

According to the report, Chinese visitors are able to smuggle ivory purchased in Mong La back to their home country with little fear of being caught.

It also noted that a computer-driven machine in one shop in the town enables Chinese customers to mass produce decorative products made out of ivory.

Lucy Vigne, lead author of the report, commented: “Poaching is a problem for elephants in Myanmar but the country also provides a largely unchecked conduit for illegal African ivory carved in the region to be smuggled into China, in violation of International Law.

“The authorities are not deterring ivory smugglers and trade in ivory and other endangered wildlife products that is running riot to meet the continued Chinese demand.”

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Myanmar is the new illegal ivory market for African elephants, says report

Myanmar, a Southeast Asian nation of more than 100 ethnic groups, bordering India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand is now the new growing market for ivory trade. This is according to a new report by ivory trade specialists Lucy Vigne and the late Esmond Martin, which shows that one town in particular in Myanmar, Mong La - a frontier town in the notorious Golden Triangle on the border of China - has experienced a ‘prolific growth’ in ivory trading. Myanmar is facing an unprecedented elephant-skinning epidemic that threatens to wipe out its wild elephant population in a matter of years. The number of new ivory items seen for sale in the town grew by 63 per cent in three years, and now accounts for over a third of the ivory seen in the country. This new study shows the scale of the challenge that remains for elephants in the face of the ivory trade. The report ‘Myanmar’s Growing Illegal Ivory Trade with China’, a publication by Save the Elephants(STE) released on Tuesday 2, 2018 in Nairobi recounts how Chinese visitors smuggle worked ivory from Mong La back home with little concern about getting caught. “This ivory has often come up the Mekong River into the lawless eastern periphery of Myanmar where it is for sale in both retail and bulk. The wholesale price for African raw ivory in late 2017 in the Golden Triangle region has remained stable at about USD 770(Sh77,000) to USD 800(Sh80,000) per kg since late 2015,”said Ms Vigne, the lead author of the report. Know if news is factual and true. Text 'NEWS' to 22840 and always receive verified news updates. Myanmar is said to have the largest captive, or ‘domestic’, elephant population in the world with over 5,000 individuals. However, the “Traders there say that the internal ivory trade is legal for trimmed domestic elephant tusk tips and from licensed animals that have died, and operate accordingly,” added Vigne. This is going on despite trading in the tusks of the remaining wild elephants in Myanmar – numbering perhaps 2,000 – is acknowledged to be illegal. The ivory from captive elephants is used for local carving and retail sale especially in Mandalay and Yangon. Their tusks are also sold wholesale in Mandalay to Chinese traders, who smuggle them across the China border in contravention of the existing international ivory trade ban. Traders reported that 90 per cent of buyers were Chinese wishing to smuggle the ivory home, as also found by the same authors in market surveys in Hong Kong (2015) and Laos (2017).In Vietnam (2016) this was estimated to be 75 per cent. “Poaching is a problem for elephants in Myanmar but the country also provides a largely unchecked conduit for illegal African ivory carved in the region to be smuggled into China, in violation of International Law. The authorities are not deterring ivory smugglers and trade in ivory and other endangered wildlife products that is running riot to meet the continued Chinese demand,” said Vigne. The researchers cited five towns and cities (of eight visited) with 51 shops openly displaying 14,846 ivory items for sale. These were Mong La, Mandalay, Yangon, Tachileik and Bagan. In Mong La, ten open Chinese shops were counted, nearly all specialising in selling ivory, displaying 5,279 recently-made ivory items. According to Ian Douglas-Hamilton, founder STE, many of the DNA tests done on the ivories that have been arrested prove that most of them come from Africa. “Most of the DNA results of the ivories seized and tested at since 2006 from University of Washington Centre for Conservation Biology shows that they now come from Africa especially from DRC Congo, Tanzania with Mombasa port being the exit point. Kenya currently is doing well since the ban of ivory trading and thanked community conservancies for improving the conservation of elephants and other wildlife,” said Hamilton. Hamilton is calling upon China to close its market to stop fueling demand from Myanmar and asked for more collaboration between countries and agencies involved in stopping illegal wildlife trade. The international trade in elephant ivory has been illegal since 1989 yet African elephant numbers continue to decline. In 2016 the International Union for Conservation of Nature cited ivory poaching as a primary reason for the staggering loss of around 111,000 elephants between 2005 and 2015 – leaving their dwindling total numbers at an estimated 415,000.

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Police arrest elephant poaching ring in in Myanmar’s Irrawaddy region

At least one elephant is killed by hunters in Myanmar every week, says WWF-Myanmar.

The Forestry Police arrested an elephant poaching ring in Irrawaddy Region’s Ngapudaw Township in Myanmar, The Irrawaddy reported.

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Acting on a tip, combined forces from the Forestry Police, Nga Yoke Kaung sub-township police department, the Forestry Department, village administrators and Elephant Emergency Response Units (EERU) cornered the ring in Myittayar Forest Reserve in Ngapudaw Township. Two poachers were arrested and one escaped, local village tract administrator U Kyaw Myint Tun told The Irrawaddy.

“We arrested two hunters with poaching equipment. Another poacher got away, but we are going after him. We are undertaking plans to prevent elephant poaching in our region,” he said.

The two hunters who were arrested are respectively from Rakhine State’s Taungup Township and Ngapudaw Township. The third poacher from Magwe Region is still at large.

Percussion firearms, metal bolts, iron rods, arrows, gunpowder and more were seized from the poachers, according to the Forestry Police.

“It is important to arrest poachers before they kill an elephant,” said Ko Sai Zaw Oo, an official of a local elephant conservation group in Ngapudaw Township.

Police have opened a case against the two poachers. Last year, 13 wild elephants were killed in Pathein, Ngapudaw and Thabaung, and Irrawaddy Region remains the main elephant poaching ground in Myanmar.

In February, the European Union urged the Myanmar government to strengthen efforts to protect its wild elephant population, warning that it is on the brink of extinction due to poaching to supply the illegal trade of ivory and skins.

EU ambassadors also urged the Myanmar government to end the open sale of elephant and other illegal wildlife parts in markets in its major cities, at popular tourist sites and along its borders.

According to WWF-Myanmar, at least one elephant is killed by hunters in Myanmar every week. Elephant skin, hair, teeth and ivory are sold at tourist sites such as the Golden Rock (Kyaiktiyo Pagoda in Bago Region), while ivory is sold in Yangon and Mandalay. Large markets also operate in the ‘Golden Triangle’ border area Myanmar shares with China, Laos and Thailand.

In mid-February, the government launched The Myanmar Elephant Conservation Action Plan (MECAP), a strategy for the next 10 years (2018–27) with the overall aim of securing viable and ecologically functional elephant populations in Myanmar for the next century and beyond with support from international and local organizations.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, 18 wild elephants were poached in 2016, and 30 were killed last year. The current population is estimated at just 1,400-2,000, compared to 10,000 in 1997.

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Wild elephants wander near forest, ‘hiding from poachers’

Ten wild elephants are wandering in the forest by a highway and the authorities are protecting them from poachers.

The elephants near the Pathein-Mawtin highway in Ayeyawady Region are thought to be fleeing from poachers.

Htun Lin, administrator of Ngayokekaung Township, said: “Residents informed us of 10 elephants wandering in the forest near the highway. We took the photos of the elephants and then deployed a patrol.”

He added that the elephants did not harm the residents
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“I think they came near the people to hide from poachers who usually operate in deep forests. We joined forces with members of an elephant conservation group and patrolled a mile perimeter. This is the first time I’ve seen wild elephants approach that close to human settlements.”

“Voices for Momos”, a group of elephant protectors, told a media conference on November 1 that between January and August at least 30 wild elephants were slaughtered for their ivory and skin.
The country was left with only 1,400 to 2,000 wild elephants, they added.

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Terrifying new elephant poaching epidemic to meet demand for ‘health’ jewellery made from their skin

Lying slaughtered in a forest ­clearing, its skin half-peeled, the elephant is one of 20 found dead the same day, many of them mothers and calves, all killed by poisoned dart.

But these animals were not butchered for their precious ivory tusks; they were killed for their thick, grey hide.

It is hacked off while their bodies are still warm. The rest of the beast is left to rot.

Just last week Environment Secretary Michael Gove announced plans to ban all ivory sales in the UK, in an attempt to help save elephants across the globe.

But the Mirror has learned that record numbers of Asian elephants face a terrifying new poaching epidemic – for a sick trend of jewellery made from their skin.

Monica Wrobel, head of conservation at wildlife charity Elephant Family, said: “These elephants were killed to order. The herd were tracked, slaughtered, and every bit of skin taken.”

The skin is polished and made into blood-red beads, which are sold as bracelets and necklaces at up to £75 each. Traders claim they can ward off illness.

Demand for the illegal jewellery is already so high in China that dealers are demanding more elephant skin from smugglers.

Last year, rangers found more than 60 elephants butchered for skin in Myan­mar, formerly Burma – now the epicentre of this poaching epidemic.

This year has been worse. Investigators seized 66 trunks in a single haul. Two herds were slaughtered, with a further six skinned elephants found in six weeks in the summer.

And if demand for beads ­continues to grow at this rate, these already endangered ­animals could be poached to the brink of extinction within two years.

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Ivory tusk smuggler caught again

KOTA KINABALU: Indonesian authorities have finally caught up with a woman who was detained and let go in Kalimantan on Jan 13, despite being found with ivory tusks believed to be from poached Borneo Pygmy elephants in Sabah.

According to officials, the 37-year-old Indonesian woman, who had been living in Sabah, was arrested upon her return to Nunukan via the state’s border town of Tawau at about 10pm on May 3.

A Kalimantan wildlife official, Subhan, said the woman was currently held at the Nunukan prison while the five ivory tusks earlier seized from her was in the safekeeping of the Natural Resource Conservation Centre in Samarinda, East Kalimantan.

She is being investigated for smuggling ivory from Sabah to Nunukan.

Subhan said that under the country’s Conservation of Biological and Natural Resources law, the woman now faced up to five years in prison and a fine of 100mil Rupiah.

The tusks were found on her days after reports emerged of three elephants, including a rare sabre-tusked animal whose rescue from a Tawau plantation in August was featured in newspapers, were found killed in Sabah.

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Demand for skin, meat and bones drives up elephant poaching in Myanmar

Demand for elephant parts, including but not limited to ivory, is causing a spike in poaching in Myanmar, the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry has said.

Natural and Wildlife Conservation Department director Win Naing Zaw told Eleven that the skin, meat and bones of Myanmar elephants are being smuggled abroad to be used in cosmetics, medicines and accessories, including hand bags.

“Something that is different in Myanmar compared to [poaching cases in] Africa is that the elephants here and around Asia also get skinned, dried and sold to neighboring countries such as China and Thailand. Elephant meat, snout and feet jerkies are now being sold there,” said Win Naing Zaw told Eleven.

He also previously told 7Day Daily that the concentration of international attention on the ivory trade out of Africa has afforded poachers more freedom to operate in Asia.

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