Elephant Poaching Dips in 2018 After Years on Rise

PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Region — More than 100 wild elephants were poached in forest reserves across the country over the past four years, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation’s Forest Department.

U Pyae Phyo Aung, head of the Forest Department in Irrawaddy Region’s Ngapudaw Township, said poachers killed a total 115 of the pachyderms over the period: seven in 2014, 20 in 2015, 18 in 2016, 59 in 2017, and 11 from January through May.

“Elephant poaching was highest last year, but it has declined this year,” he told The Irrawaddy.

He added that 53 elephant died of natural causes from 2014 to May.

Combined, Myanmar lost 168 wild elephants over the period, an average of about 40 per year.

In the past, elephants were mainly poached for their tusks. But over the past few years, they are also increasingly targeted for their hide, which, like the tusks, is mostly smuggled to China.

Most of the poaching takes place in Irrawaddy Region. Local police said 59 elephants were poached in the region between 2011 and May 2018.

But elephant poaching in Irrawaddy Region has significantly declined this year thanks to cooperation from locals, said Ko Sai Zaw Oo of Friends of Wildlife (FOW), which is partnering with the World Wildlife Fund on elephant conservation efforts.

In January, the Forest Department launched an initiative offering rewards of 3 million kyats ($2,046) to anyone who provides authorities with information leading to the arrest of elephant poachers.

“Last year we were able to arrest a poaching ring due to a tip from a local resident in Ngapudaw. We awarded him 3 million kyats. And we conduct regular patrols with forestry police and departmental officials, and elephant poaching has declined in the region,” Ko Sai Zaw Oo told The Irrawaddy.

Combined teams comprising local police, forestry police, forest department staff, village administrators, elephant veterinarians and non-governmental organization officials conduct regular patrols across forest reserves in Irrawaddy and also educate locals about the dangers and damage of poaching.

In February, the government launched the Myanmar Elephant Conservation Action Plan, a strategy for the next 10 years (2018–2027) aimed at securing viable and ecologically functional elephant populations in Myanmar for the next century and beyond with support from international and local organizations.

Myanmar’s elephant population is now estimated at between 1,400 and 2,000, a drastic decline from about 10,000 in the 1940s, according to the Forest Department.

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Poachers feed China trade, threaten country’s elephants

Following a tip-off by villagers in early May, U Sai Nyi Nyi rushed to the forest in Kyauk Gyi village in Thabeikkyin township of Mandalay Region and found the remains of a dead female elephant. Her tusks and trunk had been cut off and her skin peeled off the right side of her body.

Elephant poachers hastily left when the villagers arrived. Such activity has become common in Thabeikkyin, where poachers in groups of five or more, impersonating wood cutters and armed with guns, enter the forest in search of prey.



“They usually stay in the jungle for many days,” U Sai Nyi Nyi, a member of the township wildlife conservation team, said. Her group has been raising awareness among villagers near the forest to help them protect wildlife from poachers.

He said the poachers first drive the elephants into a desired location and then shoot them with poisoned arrows or guns. Then they follow the wounded elephant till it falls dead, which may take two or more days.



The elephants, sensing danger, go near the villages, as poachers tend to avoid shooting them near populated areas. Wild elephants sometimes enter the fields near the villages apparently to seek refuge, U Sai Nyi Nyi said.

Demand for elephant skin has rapidly risen since last year, according to a study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Myanmar. Many Chinese still believe that elephant skin can cure skin diseases and gastritis. It is also used in making jewellery. The increasing demand from China for elephant parts has led to the killing of more elephants in Myanmar.

“Elephant trunk is also said to be medicinal and has become a target,” Daw Sapai Min, WWF Myanmar project manager, said.

The demand for skin has endangered not only male tusked elephants but also females and their young.

“There is no scientific proof that it cures these diseases,” WWF Myanmar Senior Conservation Biologist U Paing Soe said.

Wild elephants are common in Ayeyarwady, Mandalay, Yangon, Bago, Rakhine and Kayin regions and states, but most of the killings happen in Ayeyarwady.


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New Sanctuary Will Give A New Home to Retired Logging Elephants

FOUR PAWS International is developing an incredible, expansive elephant sanctuary in Myanmar. This centre will allow elephants formerly used for labour or tourist activities to retire, living the rest of their lives in peace and comfort.

Myanmar contains around 2,000 wild elephants and around 6,000 working elephants, most of whom are used in the timber trade. In order to protect Myanmar’s dwindling forests, new environmental regulations were introduced, leading to reforms in the logging industry which resulted in ‘unemployment’ for many of these animals. As a consequence, an estimated 1,000 elephants are no longer needed for industry and are destined to wind up dead or used in cruel tourist attractions.

“It’s harsh, but for their owners, these elephants are now useless and a financial burden. The animals are therefore killed or sold into the tourism industry,” said Dr Amir Khalil, veterinarian for FOUR PAWS. “These magnificent, endangered animals do not deserve death or an equally cruel career change. At our first elephant sanctuary, the animals can recover from the exertions of their past and, ideally be reintroduced to the wild.”

FOUR PAWS has a solution for this problem. They have started creating Elephant’s Lake, a sanctuary area covering 6,880 acres of land. When complete, it will be one of the largest elephant sanctuaries in Southeast Asia and a new home for former logging, orphaned or injured elephants, starting from the end of 2018.

A press release from Four Paws states that: “The goal of Elephant’s Lake’s comprehensive rehabilitation program is to bring together new prides and subsequently release the animals into the adjacent North Zar Ma Yi Forest Reserve. If this is not possible, the elephants will remain at the sanctuary for the rest of their lives.”

Early this year, Myanmar published the first-ever Myanmar Elephant Conservation Plan (MECAP). Produced in coordination with many renowned wildlife advocacy groups, the document outlines policies that will ensure the survival of elephants in the country over the next century.


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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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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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Two Elephant Poachers Detained in Chaungtha Forest Reserve

Two suspected poachers were detained by a combined team of authorities after an elephant carcass and weapons used for poaching were discovered in Chaungtha Forest Reserve near Ngwesaung Beach, Pathein Township in Irrawaddy Region on Sunday afternoon.

After receiving a tip-off about an elephant carcass, authorities questioned two suspects from Thitphyu Village, leading to the discovery of the carcass and weapons used in hunting the elephant.

“We have detained two suspected poachers and seized the elephant carcass, its removed skin, firearms and poisoned arrows. Four people were involved in the poaching but two of them managed to escape. The police are trying to arrest the escapees. The Forest Department will formally charge them for poaching,” Police Lieutenant Colonel Khin Maung Latt told the Irrawaddy.

The combined team of the local police, forest rangers and officials from the Forestry Department detained the two suspected poachers, Ko Htwe, known as Thaung Aye, and Nga Du, known as Chit Min Naing, together with two firearms, arrows, bottles of poison, gunpowder, knives, axes, elephant skin and flesh.

“Local people reported to the authorities that they had discovered an elephant carcass. When the team arrived at the village, the carcass had already been hidden. So, the team questioned the two suspected poachers who lived nearest to the scene. The two admitted poaching the elephant and showed the police the carcass, its skin and weapons,” said Dr. Lin Lin Tun, leader of a local elephant conservation group.

The two suspected poachers have been detained at Ngwesaung Police Station and will be charged under Section 37 (a) of the Protection of Wildlife Act.

Poachers killed about 40 wild elephants, which were searching for food in Pathein, Ngapudaw and Thabaung during the period from 2011 to 2017, according to the Pathein Township Police Force.

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Hunters prey on wild elephants in Yoma

Elephant hunters are targetting the Rakhine Yoma elephant sanctuary, which is considered one of the last remaining safe havens for wild elephants in Myanmar.

Approximately 100 wild elephants inhabit the sanctuary, but this area is being threatened by brutal attacks on wild elephants nationwide, according to conservationists.


“This sanctuary is a refuge for the remaining wild elephants.” said U Aung Kyaw, wildlife trade coordinator of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

“In 2011 and 2012, it was a good place for wild elephants, but there were elephant killings on occasion in the sanctuary,” he added.


According to a WCS statement released on Monday, a hunter was arrested on April 2 for killing a wild elephant in the sanctuary.

Authorities are still hunting for three other people involved in the killing of the elephant, the statement said.

About 114.1 kilograms of elephant parts, such as dried trunk, skin and meat were recovered recently in the area, according to the Forest Department.

“It is a rare case in this sanctuary. And we can say it is the first time an elephant was killed in this area,” said U San Win, administrator of the sanctuary. “Four people were arrested, including a local resident.”

U San Win said there are 24 staff in the sanctuary and 17 of them regularly patrol the area.

“We have very few people and we can’t cover all of the area. If we had enough staff and we could cooperate with the police to stop wildlife hunting in the area,” he added.

The sanctuary is a very important haven for wild elephants and other rare species of wild animals but if they cannot be protected, they will face extinction, according to U San Win. The wildlife reserve, located in a remote area of the Rakhine Yoma range in southwest Myanmar. It comprises 39,332 square kilometres, is very difficult to access, and is one of the biggest elephant habitats.

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Tour operators, timber company see bright future for elephant tourism

The government-run Myanma Timber Enterprise had earned about K430 million (US$325,535) since it began operating 18 elephant conservation-based tourism camps around the country two years ago.

The government has banned timber extraction for a period of one year for the whole country and for 10 years in Bago Yoma Hills in central Myanmar, effective from the 2016-17 fiscal year.

As a result of the ban, the management of Myanma Timber Enterprise converted its elephant camps into elephant conservation-based tourism camps in a bid to earn revenue while providing income for 3000 mahouts, or elephant handlers, and help maintain the company’s herd of pachyderms, which are used to move felled trees out of the woods.

“Elephant conservation-based tourism has proven successful. Also we need to do more hospitality training for people who live in the camps and build more infrastructure in the camps,” U Moe Myint, deputy general manager of Myanma Timber, told The Myanmar Times.

Myanma Timber owns 3078 elephants, of which 514 are under 4, 734 are between 4 and 18, and 1597 are 18 to 55 years old. The rest, 233, are retired elephants.

Each elephant above 4 years old needs a mahout to train it for working with people, which is why the company has more than 2500 mahouts.

Among the 3078 elephants, the company uses 205 elephants at its 18 elephant camps, it said.

“We are looking for more places to open elephant conservation-based tourism camps,” he added.

The camps charge an entrance fee of K1000, and an elephant ride costs K5000 for locals. However, foreign tourists are charged K20,000 for the entrance fee and elephant ride.

“We have to return to the government all income from entrance fees and elephant rided,” U Moe Myint said. “That income is only enough to cover the elephants’ food and medicines but is not sufficient to pay the mahouts, who are paid by the government.”

The Union of Myanmar Travel Association (UMTA) and Myanma Timber met to discuss developing more elephant conservation-based tourism camps on April 9.

“There a lot of things done with elephants in the tourism industry of other countries, and we need to do more,” said U Min Thein, vice chairman of UMTA. “Also, Myanma Timber and tourism operators need to cooperate more.”

Elephant conservation-based tourism needs more promotion by cooperating with tourism operators, he said.

“This kind of tourism would be very successful if we strengthen cooperation,” U Min Thein said. “But we need to train the elephants more and promote the camps more.”

There are 52 veterinarians for the 3078 elephants, so the government needs to encourage more people to study veterinary medicine to ensure the conservation of Myanmar’s treasured elephants, said Dr Zaw Min Oo, a vet and manager of Myanma Timber.

“Some elephant camps are very far from cities, so vets have to stay for more than 20 days in a month, and move from camp to camp with poor facilities,” he said.

The younger generation is not interested in veterinary jobs, because they have no benefits, status or incentives,” he said.

According to the Emergency Elephant Response Unit, 59 wild elephants were killed during the 2017-18 fiscal year by poaching, which has become a major threat to the animals.

Burma’s wild elephant numbers have dropped dramatically over the past 50 years and appear to still be in decline, according to elephant conservation group EleAid.

Among the major threats are poaching and habitat loss and fragmentation, it added.

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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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EU Calls on Myanmar to Take Action to Save Shrinking Elephant Population

Government urged to close down illegal wildlife markets around the country The post EU Calls on Myanmar to Take Action to Save Shrinking Elephant Population appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

 YANGON—The European Union urged the Myanmar government to strengthen efforts to protect its wild elephant population, which is on the brink of extinction due to poaching to supply the illegal trade in ivory and skins, as well as 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.

In a statement to mark World Wildlife Day on Saturday, more than two dozen ambassadors of the European Union and its member states warned that Myanmar’s wild elephant population would be wiped out in a matter of years as poaching for tusks and other parts remains a huge challenge globally with Myanmar facing an “unprecedented elephant skinning crisis”.

In recent years, the Myanmar government has been working on strengthening the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Law, establishing more than 40 protected areas for wildlife, developing action plans for elephants and tigers, training and deploying rangers, and instituting wildlife training for government staff about the illegal wildlife trade. The EU and its member states have supported some of these efforts through the provision of technical support and capacity building.

“In particular, we would recommend that the Government of Myanmar ends the open sale of elephant and other illegal wildlife parts, which today are widely sold in markets in Yangon, Mandalay, Kyeikhteeyoe and along Myanmar’s borders,” the statement said.

According to WWF-Myanmar, at least one elephant is killed by hunters in Myanmar every week. Elephant skin, tail hairs, 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 such markets, elephant skin is sold dried for traditional ‘medicine’ or polished into beads and sold as lucky charm bracelets. The tail hairs are put into silver rings and worn for luck.

Last month, the WWF-Myanmar met with the trustee members of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon to hold an awareness program for souvenir shop owners at the pagoda stairways to educate them on the harm done by selling ivory and other wild animal related objects.

The EU statement released on Wednesday added that as long as these markets continue to sell illegal wildlife products, Myanmar’s wildlife will be at risk, and Myanmar’s position as a global and regional illegal wildlife trade hub will continue and grow as other countries in the region close their domestic markets. China shut its domestic ivory market in January this year and Hong Kong has also committed to ban ivory trading.

“Concrete action, such as developing a more robust legal framework in line with global standards — and ensuring its effective enforcement — would send a clear message that Myanmar has a zero-tolerance approach to wildlife crime,” the statement said.

The EU ambassadors also encouraged the government to take action now so that Myanmar can attend the 2018 London Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade in October, not only to renew its commitments to the 2014 London Declaration on the Illegal Wildlife Trade, but also to take up its place as a regional leader in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade.

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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Elephant poaching emerging crisis in Myanmar

Scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) have found that poaching is an emerging crisis for Asian elephants in Myanmar, according to a report on the nationalzoo.si.edu website.

Researchers first became aware of the crisis while conducting an unrelated telemetry study in which they fitted 19 Asian elephants with satellite GPS collars to better understand elephant movements and reduce human-elephant conflict. Seven of those 19 elephants were poached within a year of being fitted with the collars. The findings suggest that human-elephant conflict, which was thought to be the biggest threat to Myanmar’s wild elephants, may be secondary to poaching. And conservation efforts to help the 1,400 to 2,000 wild elephants in Myanmar should prioritize anti-poaching efforts.

Observations and discoveries from SCBI’s partners on the ground in Myanmar found further evidence of large-scale poaching. In less than two years, they confirmed that at least 19 elephants, including the seven with satellite GPS collars, were poached. And systematic surveys showed an additional 40 poached elephants were found across the southern central region of the country. 

Unlike African elephants, Myanmar’s elephants are being targeted by poachers for their skin instead of ivory. In Asian elephants, only males have tusks, which can vary in size, the report said.

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Asian Elephants Are Now Being Killed for Their Skin

The smell was ghastly and the sight even worse. Twenty-five elephants lay dead in a riverbed in the Ayeyawady (Irrawaddy) delta in southwestern Myanmar. “The stench is what led villagers to the bodies in the first place,” says Aung Myo Chit, the Smithsonian Institution’s Myanmar country coordinator, who also leads a local NGO, Growth for Prosperity, that helps rural residents avoid deadly conflicts with elephants.

It was the trust Aung Myo Chit’s outreach workers had earned that led villagers of Nga Pu Taw Township to reveal the dead elephants. Ordinarily, local people avoid reporting poaching to the authorities for fear they’ll be blamed.

By the time Aung Myo Chit’s filmmaker colleague Klaus Reisinger got there in early May, the giant carcasses had deteriorated badly. “Their bellies were bloated,” Reisinger recalls with a shudder.

Captive elephants are often used to drag carcasses of elephants slain for their ivory out of riverbeds where they’re commonly found. But that wasn’t possible this time. The skin had been stripped from the bodies, leaving them to tear apart if moved. So staff with the Myanmar Forest Department who came to investigate burned them in place to prevent their contaminating the downstream water supply.

Such spectacles are familiar on African savannas, where elephants are more numerous and poachers have stalked their ivory for decades. Not so in the thick forests of Myanmar, where the country’s remaining 1,200 to 1,400 endangered wild elephants are elusive and only the males (and not all males) have tusks.

But this and other, smaller recent slaughters in the Ayeyawady delta were not ivory raids. Poachers had killed males, tuskless females, and calves alike in pursuit of a different prize: their skins.

Using elephant skin and other body parts is nothing new in Southeast Asia. In Myanmar and elsewhere—particularly in tribal areas—the skin is dried, ground, mixed with oils, and applied to treat eczema and other skin conditions.

“But there’s a lot we don’t know,” says Martin Tyson, a Wildlife Conservation Society biologist who’s helping Myanmar’s government draft an elephant conservation plan. “Recently Chinese biologists said it’s used for upset stomachs.”

According to Aung Myo Chit, something seems to have surprised the poachers who killed the 25 elephants earlier this year. They “left behind the skins which they’d put up to dry over bone fires.

They hung up the skin like laundry. Some bags were confiscated with raw hides still rolled up on pieces of wood and severed elephant trunks.”

“Rolled up like toilet paper,” Reisinger adds. “People tell me they can skin an elephant in four or five minutes.” Because of heavy penalties for gun ownership, the high-powered rifles used by poachers in Africa are rare in Myanmar. Instead, poachers often use darts and metal and bamboo spears dipped in readily available pesticides; the elephants die slow, painful deaths.

Professional poachers “go into an area and find local guides,” Tyson says. “The guides often get arrested, and the poachers get away. But the amount guides can earn is probably months’ worth of what they could gain by any other activity.”


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Locals Seek Police Assistance to Deter Rampaging Elephant

A wild elephant has been on a rampage through several villages in the west of Pathein Township in Irrawaddy Region as of Tuesday, and locals are afraid.

“That elephant is really wild and not afraid of humans. It stamped a pig to death in Kyun Kalay village and also destroyed a house in Ywathit village. We locals are scared that it could hurt us,” U Hla Htay, the administrator of Kyaukphya village tract, told The Irrawaddy.

Forestry police and personnel of the Pathein Township Forestry Department arrived in the village tract on Friday after locals sought help. The forestry department brought four tamed elephants to help drive it back to the forest.

Wild elephants visit farms for food usually from the paddy harvest in November to around May before the rainy season starts, according to locals.

“As people cut down trees excessively, it causes deforestation, and elephants are devoid of foods. They are losing their habitats. So, they come to human settlements to eat paddy, banana and other crops grown by the people, resulting in human-elephant conflict,” said Sai Zaw Oo, a supervisor of the Myanmar Elephant Lovers Association, a local community-based organization based in Ngapudaw Township.

“At the same time, this has given elephant poachers the opportunity to hunt wild elephants that come and search for food,” he added.

Last year, a herd of wild elephants came and ate crops grown by locals around Ngwe Saung Beach in the west of Pathein Township, and four local villagers were killed in resultant human-elephant conflicts, according to the Ngwe Saung Beach police station.

In June this year, non-governmental organizations, forestry police and Myanma Timber Enterprise formed a team tasked with scaring away elephants from human settlements and preventing them from being hunted by poachers. The team carries out regular patrols across the forests with tamed elephants.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Conservation, 18 wild elephants were poached in Myanmar in 2016 whereas about 30 elephants have been hunted as of Aug. 31 this year.

The elephant population of the country is now estimated to be between 1,400 and 2,000—a significant decrease from about 10,000 in the 1940s, according to the Forestry Department.

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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
.
“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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Conservationists alarmed over rising elephant skin trade

Conservationists have raised alarm over the increase in elephant skin trading in the country that targets mother elephants and calves, which could lead to the extinction of wild elephants in the country.

“Unlike ivory poaching, which targets tusked males, the sudden increase in the demand for the skin means the poaching is indiscriminate, with mothers and calves being poisoned and skinned,’’ said Nay Myo Shwe, Tanintharyi Conservation Programme coordinator, Fauna & Flora International Myanmar.

“If this continues it could lead to the extinction of wild elephants in Myanmar,” Nay Myo Shwe warned.

On World Elephant Day on August 12, national and international conservation organisations FFI, WCS, WWF and Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute expressed grave concern about the plight of Myanmar’s declining wild elephant population following a surge in demand for the skin.

The wild elephant population in the country has plummeted, with estimates at between 1400 and 2000, however the numbers could be far lower, conservationists said.

They noted that while elephant skin has long been part of the illegal wildlife trade but never at the current levels.

According to Mark Grindley, manager of Tanintharyi Conservation Programme, Fauna & Flora International Myanmar, elephant skin is traded illegally and turned into jewellery or consumed as medicine that has no proven medical value.

He noted that elephant skin and other wildlife trade products are openly sold in tourist destinations in the country, such as Yangon and Kyaiktiyo.

“Closing these markets is a key step if we are to ensure the future of Myanmar’s wild elephant,” said Mark Grindley.

“At least 30 wild elephants have been killed so far in 2017. This is far above the previous yearly killing average for Myanmar,” said Aung Myo Chit, country coordinator of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

Christy Williams, country director of the WWF-Myanmar, urged people to report any sale of elephant products or any suspected poaching to the authorities.

Myanmar had an estimated 10,000 wild elephants a few decades ago. Since 2010, government figures record at least 35 human deaths and 95 elephant deaths due to poaching and conflict in Myanmar.

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Captive elephants in Burma may be released to boost numbers

Hundreds of unemployed elephants in Burma, laid off from the once-booming timber trade, have emerged as potential saviours of the animal population.

One of the largest surviving wild elephant populations in Asia is being pushed to the brink as hunters feed demand for their hides in neighbouring China. Dozens of carcasses, stripped of their skins, have been found by villagers in recent months.

Campaigners have warned that hunters are increasingly targeting mothers and their calves, which will accelerate the slide in elephant numbers. In many cases, the poachers have used poisoned arrows to bring down their quarry, causing a slow, painful death.

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Ministry Apologizes After Posting Burma Army Chief Photo Alongside Elephant Story

RANGOON — The official Facebook page for Burma’s Ministry of Information (MOI) has apologized to the army’s Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing after posting his picture alongside a story about a wounded elephant on Thursday morning.

The photo showed Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and the Philippines’ armed forces chief Gen Eduardo Ano at the ASEAN Chiefs of Defense Forces Informal Meeting (ACDFIM) in Manila, with an article titled ‘A Wounded Wild Elephant was Found and Treated.’

In the story, the forestry department and police found a wounded elephant in the forest near a village in Thabeikkyin Township of Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay Division. The team treated the elephant’s injuries, including a wound from a poisoned arrow, and returned the animal to the forest.

The unfortunate juxtaposition was shared by social media users and prompted the MOI to apologize that night. Its website and newspapers released the correct pictures for both stories.

“We mistakenly published the commander-in-chief of the military’s photo in the news titled ‘A Wounded Wild Elephant was Found and Treated’ around 8 a.m. on May 18 on the MOI Webportal Myanmar Facebook page. We seriously apologize to the commander-in-chief for the mistake,” the apology read.

On May 11, the Facebook page published a photo-shopped photograph of US President Donald Trump holding an executive order imprinted with the words ‘James Comey You’re Fired!’

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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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