China meat market threatens elephants

Rising demand for ivory is not the only factor putting the lives of Myanmar elephants at risk. Natural Resource and Environmental Conservation Ministry officials said there is a growing market in China for elephant meat.

According to the ministry, the number of wild elephants killed has increased alarmingly year after year for the past decade.

“Including natural deaths, one elephant dies per week, and thus in next 20 or 30 years, the number of elephants will be much fewer,” said the ministry’s deputy director general U Kyaw Kyaw Lwin.

The killing happens mostly in Yangon, Bago and Ayeyarwady regions, he said during a news conference in Nay Pyi Taw on Thursday on the government’s performance during its second year.

“The reason behind the increased killing is the market in China. There is no other demand for elephant meat,” he said.

To prevent the murder of the giant animals, the government is establishing elephant sanctuaries.

The government and conservationists are also improving the environment where elephants live in order to increase their life expectancy, and cooperation with international organisations is being intensified to increase the numbers of wild elephants, the official said.

Closer cooperation between the General Administration Department, police forces and citizens have led to a rise in the number of arrests of suspected poachers, said U Kyaw Kyaw Lwin.

In 2017, 56 elephant poachers were charged. In April and May, the first two months of the fiscal year, 10 poachers were charged.

To enhance measures to protect elephants, the government in cooperation with international conservation groups offered K3 million (US$2220) to anyone who provides tip about poachers.

In March, a person from Ayeyarwady was the first to receive the K3 million reward for informing police about elephant poachers.

The Forest Department and Wildlife Conservation Society’s Myanmar Programme have also drafted a 10-year action plan for conserving elephants.


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Ivory bill boosts fight against elephant poaching

One of the toughest bans on ivory sales in the world is a step closer to coming into force in the UK as the government has introduced the Ivory Bill.

The introduction of this Bill means that measures set out last month by Environment Secretary Michael Gove are a step closer to becoming law, and helping to protect elephants for future generations.

The Bill covers ivory items of all ages, not only those produced after a certain date, subject to some narrow, carefully-defined exemptions. The maximum penalty for breaching the ban will be an unlimited fine or up to five years in jail.

The Bill follows widespread engagement with environmental groups and the antiques trade sector as well as the general public. More than 70,000 people and organisations responded to Defra’s consultation on an ivory ban late last year, with over 88% of responses in favour of measures to ban ivory sales in the UK.

The number of elephants has declined by almost a third in the last decade and around 20,000 a year are still being slaughtered because of the global demand for ivory.

As profits become ever greater, the illegal wildlife trade has become a transnational organised enterprise, estimated to be worth up to £17billion a year.

Environment Secretary, Michael Gove said: "Elephants are one of the world’s most iconic animals and we must do all we can to protect them for future generations. That’s why we will introduce one of the world’s toughest bans on ivory sales. The overwhelmingly positive response to our consultation shows the strength of public feeling to protect these magnificent animals."

As announced in April’s consultation response, the Bill provides for narrowly-defined and carefully-targeted exemptions for items which do not contribute directly or indirectly to the poaching of elephants:

- Items with only a small amount of ivory. Such items must be comprised of less than 10% ivory by volume and have been made prior to 1947.

- Musical instruments. These must have an ivory content of less than 20% and have been made prior to 1975.


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Looming Ivory Ban Will Create a Mountain of Unsellable Antiques

LONDON — In his award-winning biography, “The Hare With Amber Eyes,” the British ceramic artist Edmund de Waal tells the story of his family through its collection of Japanese netsuke carvings.

Netsuke are ornamental toggles made mainly out of ivory or wood and used to fasten things to the sash of a kimono. Each one is “a small, tough explosion of exactitude,” as Mr. de Waal memorably wrote. Charles Ephrussi, a cousin of the author’s great-grandfather, bought a complete collection of 264 of these carvings from a Paris dealer in the late 19th century. Among them was an ivory netsuke of a trembling hare with amber-inlaid eyes.

Extraordinarily, the entire collection has remained intact, surviving World War II in Vienna, hidden in the mattress of a family servant. It spent further years in the apartment of an uncle in Tokyo, before being bequeathed to Mr. de Waal, who keeps it in his London home.

He writes in his book how a disapproving neighbor, surprised by the sight of such precious objects in a private house, suggested that the netsuke should be returned to Japan. “No,” replied Mr. de Waal. “Objects have always been carried, sold, bartered, stolen, retrieved and lost,” he said. “It is how you tell the stories that matters.”

Such stories of lives lived through material culture could be severely curtailed here in Britain, following the government’s announcement earlier this month that it would be banning the sale of items made with ivory. The measure is designed to protect elephants, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement. A spokesman would not say when legislation would be brought before Parliament.

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