Dead elephant found in Vietnam

Dead elephant found in Vietnam

The remains of what was believed to be the last wild elephant in a province in northern-central Vietnam have been found in a forest.

Vietnam was one of eight nations accused of failing to do enough to tackle the illegal trade in elephant ivory at the Cites conference in Bangkok in March. (Photo by Jetjaras Na Ranong)

The decomposing carcass of the four-ton elephant was discovered on Thursday by locals in the Tan Hoa Commune forest in Quang Binh province, according to a Thanh Nien News report.

The elephant’s head, legs and skin had been removed.

Dinh Quy Nhan, chairman of the local government, told online newspaper Dan Tri that experts believed the elephant had died about two days before its remains were discovered.

Locals said that the forest had been home to two adult elephants, one male and one female, but the male was poached for its tusks two years ago.

They said they suspected that the newly-discovered carcass was that of the female.

Officials have reportedly been sent to investigate the elephant’s death.

Last month Vietnam was named one of eight nations – including Thailand – accused of failing to do enough to tackle the illegal trade in African elephant ivory at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species on Fauna and Flora (Cites) conference in Bangkok.

The conference identified Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda – as well as transit countries Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and top markets for ivory products China and Thailand – as making insufficient efforts to curb the trade.

The “Gang of Eight” avoided punishment after six of them submitted draft action plans in response to the criticism, while China and Tanzania committed to do so by a specific date.

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