Myanmar an animal smuggling centre

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http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20081211-107067.html

 

Myanmar an animal smuggling centre

 

Thu, Dec 11, 2008

AFP

 

BANGKOK - MYANMAR is at the centre of an illegal trade in elephants and

ivory, with more than 250 live animals smuggled out of the country in the

past decade, a report said on Wednesday.

 

Most of the elephants were destined for use in the tourist trekking industry

in neighbouring Thailand, said the report by the wildlife trade monitoring

network Traffic.

 

Smuggling of live elephants and ivory is in 'blatant contravention' of

national laws and of the Cites (Convention on International Trade in

Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), the group said.

 

'Our research found evidence of corruption allowing the illicit smuggling of

ivory and elephants to take place,' Chris Shepherd, senior programme officer

with Traffic, was quoted as saying in a statement.

 

'Females and juvenile elephants are particularly targeted to supply the

demand from the tourism industry in Thailand, where they are put to work in

elephant trekking centres,' said Mr Shepherd.

 

Smugglers took elephants over the frontier by bribing border officials, the

report said, citing one guard as saying he had charged up to US$200 (S$298)

per animal because he was saving up to fly to Germany for the 2006 World

Cup.

 

Yet no cross-border trade of live elephants had been reported to Cites by

either Myanmar or Thailand, and some traders said elephants had disappeared

from parts of Myanmar owing to numbers captured for the live trade, it said.

 

A survey by the group of 14 markets and three border markets in Thailand and

China, which both adjoin Myanmar, also found 9,000 pieces of ivory and 16

whole tusks for sale, it said.

 

Reports of elephant disappearances and the amount of ivory on sale 'suggests

that trade poses a significant threat to the survival of Asian elephants in

Myanmar,' said Vincent Nijman, a co-author of the report.

 

Myanmar has the largest elephant population in Southeast Asia, with an

estimated 4,000 to 5,000 animals, the report said.

 

Traffic and conservation group WWF called on authorities in Myanmar to work

closely with enforcement officers in Thailand and China to address the

illegal trade.

 

'Both Thailand and China must do much more to increase enforcement and crack

down on this insidious trade,' Susan Lieberman, director of the WWF

international species programme, was quoted as saying in the Traffic

statement.

 

It called for greater monitoring of domestic elephant populations in

Myanmar, including the use of microchip and tattoo-based identification

systems to prevent illegal cross-border movement.

 

 

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