The Market for Elephant Exotics is Exploding in China and Vietnam
Jun 18, 2018 | 0 comments
Scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) have found that poaching is an emerging crisis for Asian elephants in Myanmar. Previously, female Asian elephants were generally protected from slaughter in the wild as illegal demand was only for the ivory of the males. By accident, researchers became aware of the crisis as they were conducting an unrelated telemetry study in which they fitted nineteen Asian elephants with satellite GPS collars to better understand elephant movements and reduce human-elephant conflict. At the time, it was believed that such conflict situations represented the greatest threat to the wild elephant population though...