Wild elephants destroy houses, paddy plantation in Ayeyawady

PATHEIN- Wild elephants on October 16 entered the villages near Nankathu Dam in Ingapu Township, Ayeyawady Region and destroyed houses and paddy plantations, said villagers.

Informed by the villagers, the Forest Department tried to drive out the wild elephants by using two tamed elephants. But the tamed elephants joined the wild elephants, increasing their number to eight.

Attempts to drive them away have been suspended, and over 100 acres of fields and seven houses have been destroyed.

“We have never seen wild elephants come into our region,” said Kanyutkwin villager Phoe Khwei, age 60. “It is impossible to see elephants outside the village. But now, wild elephants have arrived in our village and they ate our paddy plantations.”

Loss of the plantations is a big financial problem for the small villages. The rice was purchased through loans from the Agricultural Bank.

Locals have met with officials from the Ayeyawady Regional Government Committee’s Office, said Win Tin from Thetyetoak village. “In our group, there are about 12 villagers who lost paddies. Some left the village because they can’t afford transportation charges.

“First, there are about six wild elephants. Later, they were joined by two tamed elephants from the Forest Department. Even the elephant keeper was attacked. The elephants go around the village at night. So, we had to threaten them by igniting bamboo. It’s been over 50 days. We have already suffered from loss of our paddy plantations and are afraid of them.”

The villagers from Kanyutkwin village on November 29 formally asked Ba Hein, the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Resources and Environmental Conservation of the Ayeyawady Region Government Committee to help them .

Ba Hein replied that he would be arriving in Kanyutkwin village on December 1, and would settle the problem of wild elephants as soon as possible, according to the villagers.

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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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Rohingya refugees at risk of elephant attacks

Rohingya refugees have been setting up makeshift shelters in Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf and Ukhiya by blocking wild elephants’ path, which may compel elephants to leave their sanctuary and attack the occupants. Researchers and forest conservation officers said the refugees are settling in areas from Kutupalong camp to Balukhali camp which are designated as wild elephant routes.

Also Read- 2 die as elephants stampede through Rohingya slumThe report said around 78 wild elephants live in the conserved forests of Ukhiya and Teknaf areas in dry season. Southern Cox’s Bazar Divisional Forest Conservation Officer Ali Kabir said: “Teknaf and Ukhiya areas are the elephants’ main habitat.

According to the UN, 480,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh’s southeastern border region since August 25 military crackdown against Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

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Police, Army Provide Security After Deadly Elephant Rampage in Irrawaddy Division

PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Division — Police and Burma Army soldiers were brought in to provide security in Sin Puu Kone village of Irrawaddy Division’s Thabaung Township after two rampaging wild elephants killed a 59-year-old villager on Saturday morning.

Thabaung Township Police Force dispatched over 20 police officers to the village to work alongside the general administration department and forest department in response to the rampage that also damaged local farmland.

“The elephants are still near the forest outside the village—we could not scare them away,” chief of Thabaung Police Station police Capt. Myint Lwin told The Irrawaddy on Sunday. “We had to explode firecrackers at night to keep them away.”

U Than Win, 59, was trampled to death by the elephants on his way into the forest, he said.

Soldiers from the No. 308 Light Infantry Battalion of South-West Command initially joined police to provide security on Saturday, but left later in the evening.

“Police plan to scare the elephants away in collaboration with the forest department personnel and local residents,” said Thabaung Township Lower House lawmaker U Thein Tun.

“If that does not work, police will corner the wild elephants using the forest department’s tamed elephants ridden by skilled mahouts, anaesthetize the wild elephants, and transport them back to the forest,” he said.

Wild elephants often visit the villages of Thabaung, Ngapudaw, Ngwe Hsaung, and Chaungtha in the Irrawaddy Delta, adjacent to the western Pegu Mountain Range, during the hot and cool seasons in in search of food.

They often damage local race paddies and other crops and cause human casualties.

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Farmer Killed by Wild Elephant in Irrawaddy Division

PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Division — A local farmer was killed by a wild elephant in the beach resort of Ngwesaung in Pathein Township, Irrawaddy Division, on Sunday.

U Thaung Hla, 68, was walking back to his farm from Bu Kwe Gyi village at about 7 p.m. when the elephant stamped him to death, said Ngwesaung police. Locals did not retrieve the body until the morning for fear of the elephant. They took the body to Ngwesaung Hospital.

Wild elephants have killed four people in four months, according to locals in Ngwesaung, who say the animals have been in the area since December.

“Wild elephants have even entered the villages, destroyed fences and eaten banana trees,” said local U Hsan Shwe. “An elephant was hanging around a hotel construction site for hours a few days ago.

People here are always worried about the danger of elephants.”

Another local, Ko Win Swe, said the divisional government scared off wild elephants just once, in January, despite their requests for short- and long-term solutions to the problem.

“Elephants just come back,” he said. “If a village scares them off, they go to another village, and if that village scares them off, they move on to another, so that we never feel safe.”

Wild elephants live in the west of the Bago mountain range and during the harvest season they migrate to Pathein, Ngapudaw and Thabaung to eat rice and crops.

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Wild elephants kill 5 villagers in Myanmar’s northeast

YANGON, Myanmar

Five villagers have been killed by rampaging elephants in a village in Myanmar’s mountainous Shan State, authorities said Monday.

A herd of three elephants rampaged in Sint Kin village in Mong Mate Township of northeastern Shan before dawn Sunday, killing five villagers -- including a nine-year-old boy -- and destroying several houses, according to a local Forestry Department officer.

“Three women and a boy were killed by the elephants in the village,” Swe Thein told Anadolu Agency by phone Monday.

“A man was later found dead near a well outside the village,” he said, adding that the man was also killed by rampaging elephants.

Such deaths are not uncommon in rural areas in Myanmar, where deforestation has resulted in a rising number of conflicts between human residents and elephants. According to media reports, there were more than 70 such destructive encounters between wild elephants and residents from 2010-2016, leaving at least 15 people dead.

“Competition for land and food brings elephants into conflict with humans,” Swe Thein said.

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Wild elephants trample rice fields in Pegu Township

Herds of wild elephants have destroyed no less than 200 acres of rice paddies in 50 villages in Pegu [Bago] Township over the past three months as they forage for food.

Mass timber production in the region, which lies just 50 miles north of Rangoon, has caused severe deforestation, resulting in many wild animals, including elephants, abandoning the forests to search for new habitats closer to villages.

Local farmers have reported to the local NLD representative that herds of between four and 20 elephants venture toward built-up areas mostly at night and trample through rice fields as they search for plants, legumes and grasses.

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Villagers Killed by Elephants in Pegu Division

Villagers Killed by Elephants in Pegu Division Shah Paung, Irrawaddy News March 07, 2007 Villagers living near the Pegu Mountains in central Burma have complained that an increasing number of elephants moving through their village has left several people dead, rice and bean crops destroyed, and villagers with no recourse to justice. Local residents say that earlier this week, a group of elephants came into Thayetgone village in Pegu Division and trampled a farmer. It’s not the first time the elephants have caused trouble in the area. “These elephants have eaten or destroyed paddy and killed our villagers,” one local resident told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. “People have to be very cautious because of them, especially when they are traveling in the village at night.” The deaths and destruction are thought to be primarily the work of elephants from a nearby government forest reserve in the Pegu Mountains, and could have arrived at the village by following the course of the Pegu River, which originates near the reserve. To read the full story click on the link in the blog title