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.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://www.mmtimes.com/news/authorities-take-aim-illegal-wildlife-trade.html

Myanmar's wildlife gets a new champion

(MENAFN - Asia Times) Wildlife conservationists have a new ambassador for fighting poachers and smugglers of endangered species: Aung La Nsang, better known under his mixed martial arts name 'the Burmese Python,' The Irrawaddy reported on November 16.

The 33-year-old fighter and One Championship middleweight and light heavyweight world champion, Aung La Nsang is an ethnic Kachin from northernmost Myanmar. He will now fight for the World Wildlife Fund, and said of his new role: 'The fight to protect wildlife and stop wildlife crime is a fight that is close to my heart.

"Elephants, tigers, pangolins, bears, turtles and Burmese pythons … they should be in the wild, in the forest, the mountains, the ocean, not in the market.'

He also said that huge challenges lie in fighting wildlife crimes as Myanmar borders China, which is home to the world's biggest black market for wildlife trade.

Despite heavy deforestation in recent decades and on ongoing conflict between the Myanmar army and ethic rebels, Kachin State and neighboring Shan State still have abundant wildlife.

The trade in wildlife has been criminalized in Myanmar since 1994, but there have been problems enforcing the law. In 2017, an elephant was killed almost every week, and Myanmar's elephant population is now down to less than 2,000.

Besides killing elephants for ivory, there have been reports of smuggling live elephants. Elephant poaching is rampant, not only in the north, but also in the Yangon, Bago and Ayeyarwady regions.

Tiger bones and tiger skins are for sale openly in Mong La and other towns along the Chinese border which are not controlled by the central government.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://menafn.com/1097710500/Myanmars-wildlife-gets-a-new-champion