Authorities take aim at illegal wildlife trade

Myanmar's rich biodiversity continues to be damaged by illegal trade and the killing of elephants and other wild animals.

Of the over 20 wild elephants that died from January through September, 17 were killed by poachers, according to the Forest Department.

More than 46 elephants were slaughtered last year, and poachers killed 84 of the 165 wild elephants that died from 2010 to 2017, it said.

Most of the poaching occurred in Ayeyarwady and Yangon regions. In Ayeyarwady, poachers killed five of the seven wild elephants that died, while in Yangon, they killed three of the four wild elephants that died from January to September.

The wild elephants were killed for their ivory, teeth, skin and trunks, said wildlife conservation activists.

  U Win Naing Thaw, director of the department’s Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division, said that poaching of elephants has declined slightly.

“This year, there were 17 poaching cases and arrests of 42 people for killing wild elephants and illegal trade of elephant parts,” he said.

“Illegal trading is less than in previous years, as people are more aware of the problem and are cooperating more,” said U Win Naing Thaw.

There are an estimated 1400 to 2000 elephants in the country, but the numbers could be lower, according to elephant conservation groups.

Local and foreign conservationists have conducted education programmes to raise awareness of the problem.

Some laws were amended this year in an effort to reduce elephant poaching and illicit wildlife trade.

The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (bicameral legislature) enacted the amended 1992 Forestry Law on September 20, and the Protection of Biodiversity and Conservation Areas Law replaced the 1994 Protection of Wildlife and Conservation of Natural Areas Law on May 21.

The department expressed confidence that the new laws will reduce the illegal wildlife trade, especially in Yangon.

The Yangon City Development Committee has carried out an education campaign to raise awareness about the illegal wildlife and products trade in the city’s markets.

Aside from elephants, other animal parts traded in the illicit business include those from tigers, bears, pangolins, rhinos, mountain goats, Indian pied hornbills, gaurs, leopards, tortoises and snakes.

To demonstrate their seriousness about the campaign against the illegal trade, the government incinerated ivory and other wildlife parts worth US$1.3 million in Nay Pyi Taw in October.

In the first action of its kind for Myanmar, the government destroyed 277 pieces of ivory, 227 elephant and animal bones, 45 animal skins, 1544 animal horns, 45.5 kilogrammes of pangolin scales and 128 parts of other animals.

What effect these actions will have on the illegal wildlife trade remains to be seen, according to experts.

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Elephants now in demand for their skin

Recent times have seen the emergence of a dangerous trend that would adversely affect elephant populations everywhere. This is the growing demand for the skins of elephants, especially, of the Asian elephant.

A study, started by an England-based non-governmental organisation called the Elephant Family, has made some startling revelations in this respect. They have carried out a detailed survey of the illegal elephant skin trade that has been in operation since 2014, the results of which are now documented in a publication called ‘Skinned - The growing appetite for Asian elephants’.

The trade in elephant skin products seems to have started in about 2006 in Myanmar, and has now attained a steady annual growth. The skin of an elephant is used to manufacture beads, powdered skin, pieces of treated skin, etc. The powder is used in Chinese-based traditional medicine and pharmaceutical processes which sell under Elephant Skin Powder. Initially, powdered elephant skin was sold as an ingredient in traditional medicine. Thereafter, a new trend emerged where dried elephant skin was carved and polished into prayer beads and other Chinese collectibles with traders extolling the qualities of the blood red hue in the translucent subcutaneous layers.

Elephants are killed, and the skin removed in strips or in large square chunks. Whatever the method used, a large part of the skin not suitable for processing, is left and wasted. There seems to be no justification for killing an elephant for a small part of its skin.

The skin pachydera of an elephant, is 1.9 - 3.2 cm thick. It is thickest on the hind limbs and hindquarters, thinner on the forelimbs and shoulders, and is thinnest on the inside of the ears and around the mouth and anus. The skin though thick is sensitive. The colour of the skin is dark greyish black over most of the body but lighter on the head, trunk and ears. Though the elephant’s skin seems to be tough, it is sensitive in certain areas and susceptible to the ravages of heat and insect pests. Since the skin of an elephant is thick it cannot cool its body easily The warm blood cools as it circulates through the veins in the ear, due to the thin layer of skin that covers the ear. The cooled blood then circulates back into the body, helping reduce the overall body temperature of the elephant. Even though the Asian is the preferred elephant species, skin from the African species is also used. If the skin is needed from a particular part of the body, then the elephant killings will unnecessarily destroy more elephants than are actually needed for the illegal trade.

There is little doubt that the skin trade is alive and is a developing threat to Asian elephants across their range. The Asian elephant is found in the wild in thirteen range states. Their total number has been estimated at between 35,000 and 45,000. In the last century an estimated 90 percent population loss was recorded across their 13 range state, with habitat loss being the main threat. Over 15,000 Asian elephants are held in captivity around the world in zoos, entertainment centres, private ownership and trekking camps.

History has shown that poaching and wildlife trafficking spreads rapidly across countries and continents. The growing number of skin poaching incidents in Myanmar, and the spread of trade across Myanmar, Laos and China shows that this is already happening. Traffickers are actively developing new ways to market elephant skin products, and are selling them to apparently willing customers.

However, the wild elephants in Sri Lanka are not at risk of the demand for elephant skins for the production of ornaments and medicinal powders. The skin trade is in Myanmar where there are plenty of wild elephants. Even so we must be vigilant to ensure that no elephants are poached for the skin trade in the future.

The populations of both, the African and Asian species of elephants are threatened due to conflicts with people, habitat loss and poaching for their ivory. However, the Asian species are also threatened by the illicit live trade for the entertainment industry and the recent poaching for the illegal trade in their skins. The entertainment industry consists mainly of circuses, where elephants are a great attraction.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) through the Convention in Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has recommended that, “All elephant range states have in place legislative, regulatory, enforcement, or other measures to prevent the illegal trade in live elephants”.

Videos posted on marketing sites show images of backyards in Myanmar and Laos being used by traders to carve up chunks of elephant skin, remove the coarse hair with blow-torches and dry it in ovens before grinding it into a fine powder.

The most effective way in which this trade could at least be reduced, if not stopped altogether, is for people not to purchase elephant skin products or ivory products.

However, this would not be a solution if man’s greed to have these items continue. If on the other hand, there is no market or demand for elephant products the elephant will have only an aesthetic value and not a commercial value.

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Myanmar's ivory trade challenges China's efforts to save African elephants

Myanmar's flourishing African ivory smuggling is putting immense pressure on China's effort to enforce a domestic ban on ivory trade, a report released by Save the Elephants revealed.

Researchers found around 51 shops openly displaying 14,846 ivory items for sale in Myanmar's Mong La, Mandalay, Yangon, Tachileik and Bagan cities.

 At Mong La, a town located on the notorious Golden Triangle, “the illegal ivory trade soared by a 63 percent increase in last three years,” the report said.

The Golden Triangle bisects the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong Rivers, bordering Myanmar, Laos and southern China, and is the second largest hub for cross-border smuggling of drugs in the world, according to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The report titled “Myanmar's Growing Illegal Ivory Trade with China” reveals the booming ivory product sales at Mong La in the last few years, which has replaced Tachileik on the Thailand border as the place with the largest number of illegal worked ivory items.

Vendors selling carved ivory items, according to the report, stated that Chinese customers buy about 90 percent of what they sell.

Myanmar has more than 5,000 captive elephants, the largest captive elephant population in the world. The existing laws in the country allow trade of ivory procured from licensed elephants that have naturally died.

However, researchers found over a third of the ivory items available in Mong La shops were of African elephants.

“Rampant African ivory smuggling in Myanmar has put a lot of pressure on Chinese law enforcement agencies to ensure effective domestic ban on ivory. Awareness about the ivory ban along Golden Triangle region and a strict law enforcement are required to stop this brutal trade,” Lucy Vigne, a lead author of the report told CGTN.

“The authorities in Myanmar are not deterring ivory smugglers and trade in ivory and other endangered wildlife products that are running riot to meet the continued Chinese demand. This is against the international norms,” she added.

In a bid to control illegal cross-border activities, the Chinese government closed the official border crossing from China into Mong La in 2010.

The Chinese mainland banned the domestic trade of ivory, early this year, in an effort to control poaching in African countries. Its regions including Hong Kong and Taiwan enacted similar laws to combat the illegal ivory trade.

In Myanmar's illegal ivory market, researchers also saw intricate carvings and figurines that appeared to have been smuggled in from China where sales are now banned.

More than 20,000 African elephants are killed every year to satiate global demand for ivory. “Despite a great political commitment from the Chinese government and the moral leadership of influential citizens it will take continued united action to end the issue,” said Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Save the Elephants.

“China's new laws have to be rigorously enforced, borders must be controlled, and everyone must be made aware of the terrible consequences of buying ivory,” he suggested.
Myanmar government, alarmed with the unprecedented increase in wildlife trade, burned seized ivory tusk and other wildlife products on Thursday in a bid to deter the smugglers.

“We know that over 20 countries around the world destroy illegal wildlife parts in this way. We want to wipe out the illegal market and let people know that if they trade unlawful items, they will be seized and destroyed," U Win Naing Thaw, director of Myanmar's Nature and Wildlife Conservation Department told Cambodia Times.

Esmond Martin, co-author of the report, and a conservationist known for his investigative work on ivory and rhino horn trade was murdered in Kenya in February this year.

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Music festival for wildlife to be held in Myanmar's Yangon

A first-ever music festival "Voices for Wildlife" will be held in Myanmar's Yangon in April, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported Saturday.

Jointly organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Embassy of Denmark in Myanmar, the Mahabandoola Park in Yangon will host the music festival on April 7.

The music concert aims to share awareness to the public for eradicating wildlife trafficking, the biggest challenges faced in the country as well as in other countries.

Meanwhile, an elephant-focused campaign against illegal trade named "Voices for Momos," a friendly term used for elephants in the country, was launched by the WWF-Myanmar in November last year.

Also, Myanmar government has planned to shut down at least 20 illegal wildlife trade markets in Golden Triangle border region by 2020 with the help of the wildlife conservation groups.

In Golden Triangle border region which is between Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, wildlife species such tigers, elephants are mostly traded as well as rhinoceros, serow, helmeted hornbill, gaur, leopard and turtles are also traded in the region.

Myanmar has also signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to protect wild elephants, setting aside 9,205 square miles for elephant sanctuaries.

Both local and international non-governmental organizations are exerting efforts to expand the area of land for wildlife reserve in the country.

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