Fw: [AR-News] Thai elephant hunters are posing as tourists

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Thai elephant hunters 'posing as tourists'

June 24 2005 at 05:34PM

 

Kuala Lumpur - Elephant poachers from Thailand are posing as foreign

tourists to hunt elephants for their prized tusks in Malaysia's north-eastern

Terengganu state, a wildlife official said on Friday.

 

The poachers disguise themselves with sun hats and knapsacks in an attempt

to gain entry into elephant habitats in Terengganu, state Wildlife and National

Parks Department director Rozidan Mohamad Yasin told reporters.

 

" We have received information from local villagers that poachers are

coming in as tourists and hunting our elephants using snares, " he said, adding

that they were also using firearms to slaughter the beasts.

 

Rozidan said it was quite common for poachers to cross the Thai border and

make their way to national parks in Terengganu, neighbouring Kelantan and

central Pahang state.

 

" This is of concern to us, " he said, adding that two Thais have so far

been arrested for elephant poaching in Kelantan this year.

 

According to the New Straits Times, villagers said that poachers had

offered money for information on the whereabouts of elephants and asked them to

act as informers to help them evade the authorities.

 

The poachers hunt elephants for their tusks, which can fetch as much as 2

000 ringgit each, the daily said.

 

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia officials told AFP that

elephants were also hunted for their meat and trunks but could not confirm the

prices they reached on the black market.

 

There are an estimated 400 to 500 elephants left on the Malaysian

peninsula.

 

Terengganu is home to 100 of them, the New Straits Times said. - Sapa-AFP