The rotten carcasses of mutilated wild elephants were discovered by local residents in a protected area and reported to the police of Tha Poung Township, Irrawaddy Region.

A member of a local conservation team said, “Hunters killed the two wild elephants and took two tusks (from one elephant) and trunks and skinned them.” Locals told NMG that the male elephants measured 8’ and 8’’ and 6’ tall.

‘Police and rangers burnt the elephants as they were already badly decomposed when they were found on 13 March.

A member of the group, Elephant Lovers, said the hunters also removed the animals' genitals. “At least four wild elephants have been killed in Pathein District this year. This is too much!” he told NMG.

Elephant poachers are taking advantage of Burma’s lawlessness by posing as tourists to hunt wild elephants in the jungles of Pathein district, especially lately when locals are busy celebrating the Buddhist holidays.

In Asia, wild elephants are endangered. According to the WWF, there are only between 40,000 and 50,000 animals left there, which corresponds to a population decline of 50 per cent in the last three generations.

This month, two male elephants were killed in the Kanyin Kwin forest in Tha Poung Township in the district. Another male was killed in Sinma forest in Nga Pu Taw Township in early March.

In mid-February, the body of a male elephant with double tusks was found in Chaung Tha forest in Pathein Township.

According to the Wild Elephant Protection Team, more than 200 elephants live in the forests of the western Yoma Mountain Range in Tha Poung, Nga Pu Taw and Yekyi townships in Pathein District.