The scourge of the skin poachers: Hideous sight of a butchered elephant exposes the sick trade in animals' hides to feed soaring demand in China
WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
Elephants are butchered for their skin, which is used in to make jewellery
Burmese government says it knows of four cases in the past few months
Grisly photographs were taken during an undercover operation funded by British charity Elephant Family[CN]
图文预警:大象因象皮被屠杀,只因象皮可用来制造珠宝。缅甸政府声明,过去的几个月已知这样的事件就有4起。英国大象之家慈善机构赞助的秘密行动拍下了这些可怕的照片。
Asian Elephants (pictured) are being killed for their skin, used in medicine and to make jewellery[CN]
亚洲大象(如图)因它们的象皮而遭到屠杀,他们的皮可用于医学和制造珠宝。
Elephant carcasses have been found stripped of their hides (pictured) deep inside Myanmar's jungles[CN]
在缅甸丛林深处,大象的尸体被发现剥下了象皮(如图)。
Elephant skin (pictured) was trafficked from a lawless province of Burma to China, where the hide is processed and sold despite an international ban on its trade[CN]
象皮(如图)从缅甸一个省份非法贩卖到中国,尽管国际上禁止这种交易,象皮依然正常进行售卖。
The skin is sometimes made into polished beads for macabre jewellery (pictured) that traders claim can ward off ill-health[CN]
有时象皮被做成以哀悼珠宝(如图)的念珠,贩子们声称可以去除疾病。
Demand for the skin (pictured) has created a dramatic increase in poaching of Asian elephants. The Burmese government says it knows of four cases in the past few months, but unofficial sources say at least 50 animals have been killed and skinned this year alone[CN]
对象皮(如图)的需求大大增加了亚洲大象的偷猎。缅甸政府声称在过去几个月已知有4起这样的事件,但根据非官方数据,仅在今年就至少有50头大象被杀死剥皮。
In a remote clearing in the rainforests of Burma, the bloodied body of an illegally killed Asian elephant lies in a fast-running mountain stream – the telltale hacking wounds of a poacher clearly visible on its flank.[CN]
在缅甸雨林的一块边远空地上,非法屠杀的亚洲大象那血淋淋的尸体淌在湍急的山溪中 - 它的侧腹明显可以看到偷猎者砍伤的痕迹。
But this magnificent creature is not a victim of the ivory trade.
It has been killed to feed a growing Chinese demand for elephant skin, used in medicine and to make polished beads for macabre jewellery that traders claim can ward off ill-health.
The butchered giant is just one casualty of a grotesque new trade that is resulting in an escalating number of skinned elephant carcasses being discovered in the vast jungles of the tropical country.
The Burmese government says it knows of four cases in the past few months, but unofficial sources say at least 50 animals have been killed and skinned this year alone.
These grisly photographs were taken during a risky undercover operation that was funded by Elephant Family, a British-based charity dedicated to saving the Asian elephant.
Investigators
tracked the trade in elephant skin from bloodied carcasses left by
poachers via an illegal market in endangered animal products in a
lawless province of Burma to China, where the hide is processed and sold
despite an international ban on its trade.
Alarming figures from the Burma government suggest elephant poaching in the country rose by 25 per cent between 2013 and 2015. The recent seizure of 421kg of elephant hide in south-west China – where it can command up to £45 a kilo – and multiple sightings of elephant skin stockpiles in Burma confirm the slaughter.
‘I am very concerned about this trade. It is very new,’ said Dr Khyne U Mar, an Asian elephant expert known as the Elephant Lady of Burma. ‘We recently started finding increasing amounts of cut-up, dried elephant skin.’
Posing as buyers, investigators visited a workshop known for processing endangered animal skins in a remote village in north-east Burma.
The trader told them that he had big orders for elephant hide from across the border in China.
‘I have a customer in Guangdong,’ he said. ‘I delivered 30-plus kilos of elephant skin for the first time. He sold it all, and needed to order more.’
From there, the team travelled to the notorious wildlife market at Mong La on the Burma-Chinese border – a ‘Sin City’ beyond the reach of the country’s police where gambling, prostitution, drugs and money-laundering are rife.
It also serves as a major international hub in the trade in endangered animals. ‘It was a risky trip because we were secretly filming,’ one investigator told The Mail on Sunday. ‘The traders there know what they are doing is illegal and if we had been caught, it could have been very unpleasant.
‘There is no police force and while we were walking around, we were offered tiger-bone wine from huge casks. In the market and in a number of specialist shops, there were live macaque monkeys in cages, tiger skins, a lot of ivory – much of it clearly smuggled from Africa – and piles of elephant skin openly on sale for £45 a kilo.
‘We
believe traders have become wary after clampdowns on the international
trade in elephant ivory and have sought to create a new market in
skins.’
As well as medicine claimed to cure digestive problems, the skin is also made into jewellery – it is cut into cubes, dried and carved into polished beads. The most prized beads are shiny cherry-red, while less expensive examples range from orange to yellow.
At Mong La, the investigators were offered low-quality bracelets made of 12 to 16 beads for between £70 and £90. Inside one small shop were hundreds of pieces of skin.
The investigators crossed the border into China and visited an area known as ‘elephant valley’, where tourists can see elephants in a nature reserve and pay to attend circus-style shows. There, elephant skin and polished beads made into bracelets and necklaces are sold to and openly worn by visitors.
THE
Asian elephant population has decreased by at least 50 per cent over
the past 40 years and there are now believed to be only 2,000 in the
wild in Burma, although the government owns several thousand more
animals that were used in the country’s forestry industry.
Elephant Family’s chief executive, Ruth Powys, believes that the dramatic recent increase in poaching of Asian elephants for skin is a ‘canary in a coal mine’ – an early-warning sign of an escalating trade that may soon spiral out of control.
Elephant Family funds anti-poaching patrols in Burma’s forests. Its investigation coincides with this week’s meeting of CITES, the convention on the trade in endangered species, in Johannesburg.
Ms Powys added: ‘If we can raise sufficient funds to conduct further investigations to establish the full extent of this abhorrent trade, if we can work with governments to widen anti-poaching patrols, curb growing demand fuelled by traders and stall the emerging consumer market, we may still be in time to stop this trade and prevent the extinction of the Asian elephant.’
Visit wanteddeadoralive.co.uk to learn more and to find out how you can help.
british people want to preserve their culture at the same time demanding china gives up its[CN]
英国人想在保存自己文化的同时又要求中国放弃自己的文化。
Come on it's a bit different. We don't kill beautiful wild animals for some skin/tusk. Look at that dead elephant with only a small amount of skin cut off of it and tell me it's not wrong.[CN]
少来了,不一样的好吧?我们可不会为了一些兽皮/长牙什么的杀害漂亮的野生动物。看看这些死象吧,仅仅是割下了一小部分的皮。请告诉我这样做是不对的。
Give us a break - we wear shoes, belts, coats make from cow's skin, no to mention leather sofa and leather upholsters in the posh cars being sold by the million.[CN]
别逗了 – 我们穿的鞋子,皮带,外衣都是来自于奶牛的牛皮,更别说皮革沙发,更别说在售的豪华车里数以百万计的皮垫了。
DM always defames china again,again, DM hopes china fall off. talking nonsense everyday. we ever visited china many time, they are nice ,the orderly country..[CN]
每日邮报老是在诋毁中国,又是中国!每日邮报想要中国倾覆。每天都讲这些没用的。我们参观过中国很多次,他们很友善,挺有秩序的国家。
You must work for the Propaganda ministry of China because most of the world knows how they really are and they are not to be trusted. China has the worst record of animal abuse and illegal trade in animal parts yet their government turns a blind eye. And don't forget the Dog Meat Festival. Did you happen to go to that?[CN]
我看你就是中国政治宣传部工作的吧,因为大部分国家都知道中国的真面貌,知道他们不可信。中国有着最糟糕的动物虐待以及动物部位的非法交易,但是他们政府睁一只眼闭一只眼。别忘了吃狗节啊。你也去了吗?
The irony is, China spends billions trying to save the Giant Panda - an animal that is trying to become extinct (what sense does it make for a carnivore to only eat bamboo shoots?) yet are responsible for destroying every other animal on earth.[CN]
讽刺的是,中国花了上十亿多元试图拯救大熊猫 – 这种动物试图着灭绝(一种食肉动物只能吃竹笋人生还有什么意义呢),但是同时又该对毁灭地球上其他物种负责。
As a Chinese i want to say we are proud of our country and traditions.You Britons should mind you own business[CN]
作为一个中国人我想说,我们以我们国家和传统为荣。你们英国人还是管好你们自家的事情吧。
Your not even from China... Your just a loner looking for reactions and unfortunately you get it, but that's because you seem to get off on animal cruelty and most of us good folk hate animal abuse. Every article on here on animal abuse you post your vile comments on. I think we need to start a petition and at least get one troll on here removed[CN]
你哪里是中国人…你不过是一个孤独的人想引起别人注意,不好意思你如愿了,因为你似乎钟情于动物虐待,但是我们普通老百姓讨厌虐待动物。关于虐待动物的每一篇文章你都抛出这种邪恶的评论。我想我们要开始情愿,揪出你这个水军了。
DM always defames china again,again, DM hopes china fall off. talking nonsense everyday. we ever visited china many time, they are nice ,the orderly country.[CN]
每日邮报老是在诋毁中国,又是中国!每日邮报想要中国倾覆。每天都讲这些没用的。我们参观过中国很多次,他们很友善,挺有秩序的国家。
Elephant skin is hideous. Tiger rugs on the other hand, are lovely.[CN]
大象皮丑的吓人,虎皮地毯却是可爱的很。
Blimey it's only a stupid elephant. Millions of chickens die everyday.[CN]
啊呀,只是一头蠢大象。每天还有上百万只小鸡死掉呢。
Oh, and I suppose we should demonize anyone who drives a car for feeling the Exon Valdez oil spill and all those birds and wildlife killed. Remember the Exon Valdez???!!! Hypocrites.[CN]
哦,我想我们应该要把这些开车的人都妖魔化,因为阿拉斯加港湾漏油事件,这些鸟啊,野生动物啊都被杀掉了。还记得阿拉斯加港湾漏油事件吗?