MYANMAR TO DESTROY CONFISCATED WILDLIFE CONTRABAND IN IMPORTANT PUBLIC CEREMONY

THE ELEPHANT PROJECT APPLAUDS MYANMAR’S STRONG WILDLIFE LAW ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS TO PROTECT THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES FROM SLAUGHTER AND COMMERCIALIZATION

FERNANDINA BEACH, FL (October 3, 2018) – The Elephant Project applauds the Republic of the Union of Myanmar’s crack down on the illegal slaughter and commercial trade of its wild animals – including more than 100 endangered elephants – and the confiscation of a near-record volume of ivory and other body parts headed for the black market.
 
The Elephant Project will show its support Thursday morning, October 4, 2018, when Myanmar’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation will destroy its cache of illegal animal parts at its “Destruction Ceremony of Confiscated Elephant Ivory and Wildlife Parts” in the capital city, Naypyidaw.
 
“We applaud Myanmar’s government for confiscating 283 ivory tusks from wild elephants and countless body parts in its hardline crackdown on poachers and other criminals,” The Elephant Project’s Founder and President Dane Waters said.
 
“As an organization dedicated to fighting the decimation of elephants in the wild, we work closely with governments and business leaders around the world who live and work with these amazing animals,” Waters said. “We work together on a three-pronged approach that includes relocating elephants in immediate danger, working with governments to strengthen anti-poaching laws, and creating economic opportunities to support elephant populations.”
 
U Win Aung, a former businessman and a member of The Elephant Project’s Advisory Board, who will represent The Elephant Project at the ceremony, said, “These crimes must stop immediately if we are to have any chance to save elephants from disappearing in our lifetime. I strongly believe that destruction ceremonies like this are very important public statements that show trafficking in animal parts is not a lucrative business.”
 
Adam Roberts, an international wildlife expert and The Elephant Project’s senior advisor, said, “Myanmar now joins a number of other countries that have, over recent years, destroyed confiscated wildlife parts and products in a clear global message that wildlife belongs safe in the wild, not slaughtered for sale. It sends a strong signal to wildlife poachers and profiteers that, when it comes to the illegal wildlife trade, Myanmar is closed for business.”