Workers use elephants for logging in Myanmar. Pic: AFP

WITH barely one month to go, private hunting groups have managed to catch only eight of the 103 wild elephants targeted for capture by the Ministry of Forestry in the 2007-2008 financial year, which ends March 31.

U Thaung Nyunt, an assistant manager (veterinarian) from the Extraction Department of Myanma Timber Enterprise (MTE) under the ministry, said the decision to catch 103 elephants by the end of March was only made on January 1.

“The plan was for the enterprise to catch eight elephants using tranquiliser darts and for the other 95 to be caught by the eight private elephant hunting groups using traps,” he said.

But as of last week, MTE has not caught any elephants, while private hunting groups had brought in eight.

“We have just eight elephants now so I don’t think it’s possible to fill the quota,” U Thaung Nyunt said.

“We gave one hunting group in Singgu township [in Mandalay Division] permission to catch 15 elephants but they can’t work now because the elephants have already moved out of the area,” he said.

He said the ministry has given permission for trappers to catch elephants in areas where the animals have come into conflict with human settlements, including Hlegu and Taikkyi in Yangon Division; Bago and Tharyarwady in Bago Division; and Thabeikkyin and Singgu in Mandalay Division.

“The wild elephants come out of the forests and into areas where people live, leading to conflicts between man and animal. Although we try to frighten them away, they often come back again,” U Thaung Nyunt said.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Forestry, there were more than 3000 wild elephants in the forests of Myanmar in 2004.

The ministry gave the go-ahead in the 2004-2005 fiscal year for the capture of 150 elephants but only about 115 were caught at the time, U Thaung Nyunt said.

“Since then there have been increasing incidences of paddy fields and farms being damaged by wild elephants and 20 people have been trampled to death, so the ministry gave the okay to catch more of the animals by the end of 2007-2008,” he said.

He said private hunting groups are responsible for training the elephants they capture and curing them of any ailments they might have. The groups are required to turn over one-third of the elephants to MTE for use in the timber industry, while the other two-thirds can be sold to private timber companies.

“A five-foot elephant can fetch K5 million and bigger ones are worth K10 million,” U Thaung Nyunt said.

“We keep tabs on the hunting groups by inspecting all the wild elephants they catch. They must release them back into the wild if they are too young or too old,” he said.

MTE currently owns about 2750 elephants.