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.


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Carcass of female elephant found in Dhenkanal village

Dhenkanal: In yet another case of elephant death in the state, a female elephant was found dead under suspicious circumstances in Similipatna near Ichhapur village under Sadar Forest Range in Dhenkanal district on Monday.

The pachyderm, aged around 12 years was spotted by some residents of Ballabh Sahi early in the morning, who informed forest officials immediately.

A team led by Dhenkanal DFO and comprised of forest officials of Sadar Range reached the spot and conducted the preliminary investigation later in the morning. They have suspected that the jumbo could have died due to electrocution. The animal was also appeared to be pregnant from the physical structure, they added.

Forest officials have launched a drive to disperse an elephant herd which was seen at a distance of at least 500 meters from the spot where the dead jumbo was found.


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First successful artificial mating in endangered Asian elephants in China

Chinese researchers have for the first time used artificial breeding techniques to breed a baby Asian elephant.

The Asian elephant is a first-class national protected animal that inhabits Southwest China's Yunnan Province, where the cub was delivered.

A female elephant Weilai delivered the healthy 106-centimeter male cub on March 16 after 22 months' pregnancy, news portal chinanews.com reported Wednesday.

The birth was engineered by the Asian Elephant Breeding and Rescue Center in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture.

The cub is reported to be in stable health.

“Having delivered a cub in 2010 in natural breeding, Weilai never got pregnant again although she went into heat several times,” Bao Mingwei, a veterinary from the center was qouted as saying by chinanews.com.

Bao said they detected Weilai's hormone level and chose the best timing for her to mate with a male elephant Pailun in 2015.

Over the past ten years, employees from the Asian Elephant Breeding and Rescue Center have successfully bred three Asian elephants through natural mating. The birth of this cub has opened a new era in breeding Asian elephants with the assistance of new technologies.

“We look forward to more artificially-aided breeding Asian elephant cubs with the assistance of the cutting-edge technologies,” Bao said.

According to Bao, there are about 300 wild elephants inhabiting Xishuangbanna, Puer and Lincang in Yunnan.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:http://english.china.com/news/china/54/20170324/921000.html

First successful artificial mating in endangered Asian elephants in China

Chinese researchers have for the first time used artificial breeding techniques to breed a baby Asian elephant.

The Asian elephant is a first-class national protected animal that inhabits Southwest China's Yunnan Province, where the cub was delivered.

A female elephant Weilai delivered the healthy 106-centimeter male cub on March 16 after 22 months' pregnancy, news portal chinanews.com reported Wednesday.

The birth was engineered by the Asian Elephant Breeding and Rescue Center in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture.

The cub is reported to be in stable health.

"Having delivered a cub in 2010 in natural breeding, Weilai never got pregnant again although she went into heat several times," Bao Mingwei, a veterinary from the center was qouted as saying by chinanews.com.

Bao said they detected Weilai's hormone level and chose the best timing for her to mate with a male elephant Pailun in 2015.

Over the past ten years, employees from the Asian Elephant Breeding and Rescue Center have successfully bred three Asian elephants through natural mating. The birth of this cub has opened a new era in breeding Asian elephants with the assistance of new technologies.

"We look forward to more artificially-aided breeding Asian elephant cubs with the assistance of the cutting-edge technologies," Bao said.

According to Bao, there are about 300 wild elephants inhabiting Xishuangbanna, Puer and Lincang in Yunnan.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1039231.shtml