Elephants hunted for meat: Evidence found in Sangu-Matamuhuri forest

For the first time, a group of researchers have found evidence that elephants are being hunted in Bangladesh not only for their tusks but for their meat as well.

The team of four researchers recently discovered a site for hunting elephants for meat in the Sangu-Matamuhuri reserve forest, located in the hilly region bordering Myanmar. The forest is also home to the Sangu Wildlife Sanctuary.

The team conducted its research in April this year, and their findings were published on 16 October by Cambridge University Press.

Speaking about this newfound information, elephant expert and professor of zoology at Jahangirnagar University MA Aziz said that the discovery is not unnatural at all. He noted that he had already heard of elephants being hunted for meat before.

The report stated that although it had long been rumoured that elephants are hunted for meat in the hilly regions, there had never been any proof until now.

On 25 April, while exploring deep inside the Sangu-Matamuhuri forest near the Myanmar border in Rakhine State, the researchers found evidence of elephant meat being dried on a bamboo platform.

The platform measured 36 feet long and three feet high. Pieces of dried elephant meat were found on it. The researchers believe that an adult elephant was likely killed for this purpose. Apart from the meat, elephant bones and skin were also found being dried over fire.

Local residents reportedly confirmed several recent incidents of elephant killings, mentioned to the report.

Although Sangu Wildlife Sanctuary has so far been considered safer than areas such as Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, and Sherpur, where elephants face serious threats, this new evidence has caused renewed concern among conservationists.

A member of the research team on condition of anonymity told Prothom Alo, “The Sangu-Matamuhuri reserve forest remains relatively undisturbed, retaining all the characteristics of a natural forest. It is still a rich habitat for elephants. But hunting elephants for meat here is deeply alarming.”

The researcher added that the dry bones and tusks of the elephants might have been trafficked to Myanmar.

The Cambridge research team also interviewed a local community of ethnic minority living inside the forest. Citing local residents, the report stated that several gangs from both Myanmar and Bangladesh are involved in elephant poaching.

Along the entire route the researchers travelled, they found elephant dung and footprints. Locals told them that elephants frequently migrate across the Bangladesh–Myanmar border between November and March.

Professor MA Aziz, who is also a member of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group, told Prothom Alo, “When I was a university student about 25 years ago, I first learned that people in the hill tracts ate elephant meat.”

“I heard that in areas like Barkal and Pablakhali in Rangamati and Rangipara in Khagrachhari, elephants were hunted for meat. Since adult elephants are difficult to kill, sometimes people would capture calves while driving the herd away with fire and eat their meat. But I never witnessed it myself,” he added.

Referring to a presentation at an Asian Elephant Specialist Group seminar in Sabah, Malaysia, in 2019, the professor said that the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) had reported that 67 elephants were killed for meat in Myanmar in 2019. The presentation also mentioned that elephant hides were cut into square pieces, dried, and trafficked to China.

Speaking on the new findings, Professor Aziz said, “This is nothing unusual. It happens along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, where people move freely across both sides. What the researchers have now found is evidence of what we had only heard about before.”

According to the forest separtment, as many as 114 elephants have been killed in Chattogram, the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and Cox’s Bazar in the past nine years. However, only 19 cases were filed in the forest courts, and 75 general diaries (GDs) were lodged with local police stations.

During the same period, as many as 32 elephants were killed in Netrokona, Sherpur, Mymensingh, and Jamalpur districts. Of the 114 elephants killed in Chattogram, the Hill Tracts, and Cox’s Bazar, seven were shot, 26 were electrocuted, 18 died in accidents, 40 from illness, 15 due to old age, and 10 elephants died for unknown reasons.

The forest department’s ‘Elephant Conservation Action Plan 2018–2027’ contains very limited information on the trafficking of elephant tusks and body parts. However, it warns that increased elephant poaching in India and Myanmar could put Bangladesh’s elephants at greater risk.

Citing a 2004 study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the action plan noted that one community in the hill tracts was known to hunt elephants for meat. The plan also documented seven cases of elephant body part thefts between 1992 and 2016.

According to IUCN’s latest elephant survey in 2016, there were 268 elephants in Bangladesh. Following that survey, the wildlife conservation organisation listed elephants as critically endangered species on the red list.

Under Bangladesh’s wildlife (conservation and security) act, killing an elephant is strictly prohibited. The punishment for this offence ranges from a minimum of two years to a maximum of seven years in prison, along with a fine between Tk 100,000 and Tk 1 million (Tk 10 lakh).