Elephant poachers are taking advantage of Burma’s lawlessness while posing as tourists to hunt wild elephants in the jungles of Pathein District in Irrawaddy Region.

A member of the group Elephant Lovers, who requested anonymity, informed NMG that several groups have entered the jungles of Pathein, Nga Putaw and Tha Poung townships when the locals are busy with scheduled Buddhist celebrations.

“They have come to the area pretending to be visiting the celebrations at Mawtin Pagoda in Nga Putaw Township, Tawng Nyo Pagoda in Thapoung Township and Depayon Pagoda in Pathein Township.” He explained there are eight different hunting groups, each consisting of about three people.

“During the festive season, many people come to visit and so this is a good time for the hunters and animal traffickers to also enter the area,” said another man also requesting anonymity.

“In the past, the forest police, the timber department and the local wild elephant preservation teams worked together and they opened three camps to protect the wild elephants in this region,” says an anonymous member of the Pathein Environmental Preservation Team. Since the coup, however, this has completely stopped, he explained.

On 18 February, a hunter killed a elephant standing 8.5 ft in southeasten Ngapein Daleh village in Kangyi village tract in the township—the first kill in 2023 in the region.

According to Wild Elephant Lovers, at least 4 elephants were killed by hunters in Nga Putaw and Pathein townships last year.

None of these hunters have been arrested.

In Asia, wild elephants are endangered with only between 40k to 50k left on the continent, which corresponds to a 50-percent decline of the population over the last three generations, according to WWF.