ASIAN ELEPHANT: KILLING FOR SKIN
UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATION REVEALS ASIAN ELEPHANTS ARE FACING HUGE THREAT FROM POACHERS MONOJ GOGOI The elephant population is decreasing drastically due to habitat loss, forests fragmentation, traditional migratory routes blockade due to agricultural or other developmental activities outside protected areas. Therefore man-elephant conflicts are also increasing in many parts of the world. Due to high monetary value of ivories, skins and some other limbs of the body in international markets, the African and Asian elephants became easy prey of the poachers. But trading of ivory was internationally banned in 1989 and it could not help in distracting the poachers eyes from the pachyderm. The Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus), classified as endangered according to the International Union of Conservation for Nature (IUCN), faces huge threat from the poachers, particularly in Myanmar, but it doesn't mean that this species is safe in other South Asian countries. But Myanmar is