Online skin trade fuels Burma elephant slaughter: conservation group

An emerging online market for elephant skin in China is threatening the survival of the creatures in neighbouring Myanmar as poaching intensifies to meet demand, conservationists warned Tuesday.

Myanmar has watched with alarm as the number of slain elephants found in the country’s forests rises each year, with many blaming the trade in the mammal’s hide.

The biggest market for the products is in China, where the tough skin is ground up and used to treat stomach or human skin ailments, or sold as jewellery in the form of blood-red beads and pendants.

The items are increasingly advertised and sold on the internet, according to the UK-based charity Elephant Family, which outlined the findings in a new study called “Skinned: The growing appetite for Asian Elephants”.

Unlike poaching for ivory, the skin trade does not discriminate between genders and ages in elephants, making them far more vulnerable.

“This means that no elephant is safe,” said the group’s acting conservation director Belinda Stewart-Cox. “Myanmar is losing too many elephants too fast.”

Elephant Family monitored multiple internet forums and interacted with traderswithout making purchasesto learn more about the supply chain.

Out of eleven online sellers who said they knew the product origin, nine cited Myanmar and two Laos.

One China-based trader who claims to have “invented” elephant skin beads said she gets the material from a Myanmar border town, calling the sourcing “long-term and nonstop,” the report said.

Some 2,000 wild elephants are thought to be left in Myanmar, the second largest population in the region after Thailand.

But a combination of weak oversight and lawless border regions outside central government control has made Myanmar a key hub in the global wildlife trafficking trade.

Last year 59 elephant carcasses were found in the wild, a jump from four in 2010, according to government statistics cited by the report.

While the INGO said it was hard to prove with certainty whether the rise in skin product sales was directly linked to the rise in poaching, the parallel surge leaves few other explanations.

The researchers also documented the sale of elephant skin powder through China-based traditional medicine and pharmaceutical platforms, though it remains unclear whether African or Asian elephants were used in the goods.

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‘No elephant is safe’: China’s online market for animal’s skin has decimated Myanmar population

An emerging online market for elephant skin in China is threatening the survival of the creatures in neighbouring Myanmar as poaching intensifies to meet demand, conservationists warned on Tuesday.

Myanmar has watched with alarm as the number of slain elephants found in the country’s forests rises each year, with many blaming the trade in the mammal’s hide.

The biggest market for the products is in China, where the tough skin is ground up and used to treat stomach or human skin ailments, or sold as jewellery in the form of blood-red beads and pendants. The items are increasingly advertised and sold on the internet, according to the UK-based charity Elephant Family, which outlined the findings in a new study called “Skinned: The growing appetite for Asian Elephants”

China imposes total ban on elephant ivory sales

Unlike poaching for ivory, the skin trade does not discriminate between genders and ages in elephants, making them far more vulnerable.

“This means that no elephant is safe,” said the group’s acting conservation director Belinda Stewart-Cox. “Myanmar is losing too many elephants too fast.”
This means that no elephant is safe. Myanmar is losing too many elephants too fast.

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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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Traditional medicine threatens Myanmar’s elephants

Trade in elephant skin for use in traditional medicine has increased in Myanmar, alarming conservationists and authorities who have monitored the species’ decline.

Hand-sized coarse pieces of elephant skin are available for sale in major markets in the country, and are sought by clients for their medicinal properties as per local beliefs.

“We have always seen elephant skin for sale. The problem is not new, but yes, the demand is growing,” Chris Shepherd, the Southeast Asia director of wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, told Efe news.

Shepherd said the network had found elephant skin in areas as diverse as the Mongla region in eastern Myanmar, bordering China, and the famous “Golden Rock” in the south.

“The main destination is China, in places such as Mongla Chinese currency is used, Chinese is spoken and the clients too are from that country. However, there is also local consumption,” he explained.

Laminated strips of elephant hide can be found along with other valued parts of the animal, such as tusks and hooves, and different birds, felines, primates and reptiles.

The government and conservationists are not in agreement on the number of elephants killed by traffickers.

While the authorities say that at least around a dozen pachyderms were killed last year, nonprofits claim the number is more than 50 and report an increase in hunting in 2017.

Elephant skin costs around 150,000 Myanmar kyat ($110) for a kg, and is used in traditional medicine to cure eczema and other skin problems, and as an ingredient to make ointments for bleaching treatments.

In January, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation approved a 10-year plan with the aim of boosting the protection and conservation of elephants.

According to unofficial figures, there are between 1,400 and 2,000 wild elephants and some 6,000 in captivity in Myanmar.

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