Elephants mowed down for their skin
BANGKOK: A report by a British-based conservation group says rising Chinese demand for products made from elephant skin is driving poaching and posing an even greater threat to Asia’s wild herds than the ivory trade.
The group Elephant Family says the threat is greatest in Myanmar, but warns that the Asian elephant could become extinct in half of the areas where it now ranges in the region if the problem escalates. It says the threat exceeds that of the ivory trade, because poachers are targeting any elephant, not just those with tusks, and threaten elephants that are scattered in poorly protected areas.
The report’s authors say their research shows that the elephant’s skin is ground into powder and sold in China as a cure for stomach ailments, as well as being fashioned into beads for necklaces, bracelets and pendants.
The products are sold in physical markets and increasingly over the internet, where the report says sellers post videos showing workers in backyards in Myanmar and Laos cutting up and carving elephant carcasses, to vouch for the authenticity of their wares.
Belinda Stewart-Cox, Elephant Family’s director of conservation, said from the time the group started monitoring in 2014, there had been “a major ramping up of the advertising, the promotional pitches and the apparent sales”.
She said it seemed as if “there are marketers and profiteers behind this looking to ratchet up what has, I think, long been a very, very minor incidental or local market trade of no great scale, or no scale that was threatening in any way”.
Researchers identified 50 individual Chinese traders selling through social media forums. They said labels were printed in Chinese, prices quoted in Chinese currency and sales online conducted in Mandarin.
The report – “Skinned: the Growing Appetite for Asian Elephants” – also alleged that China’s State Forestry Administration had licensed some products containing elephant skin.
“At a time when China has shown commitment to ending its domestic trade in elephant ivory, it would be troubling and perverse to find that at the same time, it is creating a new, legal demand for elephant skin products,” it said.
Stewart-Cox said her organisation had reached out to Chinese officials and worked closely with Myanmar officials to address the issue.
“It is our intention to facilitate collaboration, if possible,” she said. “I think we should pull together on this. There is no time; Myanmar is losing too many elephants, too fast.”
Elephant Family puts the current size of Myanmar’s wild population at about 2 000. Quoting figures from Myanmar’s Forest Department, the group says wild elephant deaths there have risen significantly in recent years – from 26 in 2013, to at least 61 in 2016 – mostly due to poaching.
Many were found with the skin stripped from the carcasses. The time scale fits in with the appearance of elephant skin products online. “This trade is targeting males, females, juveniles,,, and is indiscriminate.” – AP/African News Agency (ANA)