Elephants Hunted for Meat and Body Parts — Evidence Emerges from Sangu–Matamuhuri Forest

Referring to a 2019 seminar held in Sabah, Malaysia by the Asian Elephant Specialist Group, a wildlife expert mentioned that the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) presented findings on elephant killings in Myanmar. According to that presentation, 67 elephants were killed in 2019 for their meat, while their dried and squared hides were smuggled into China.

Commenting on new research, Professor Aziz noted, “This isn’t entirely unexpected. Such incidents occur along the Myanmar–Bangladesh border, where there is regular cross-border movement. What’s new is that researchers have now found direct evidence supporting what had long been suspected.”

Forest Department data show that 114 elephants have died in Chattogram, the Chattogram Hill Tracts, and Cox’s Bazar over the past nine years, yet only 19 cases have been filed in the Forest Court and 75 general diaries (GDs) lodged at local police stations. During the same period, 32 elephants were killed in Netrokona, Sherpur, Mymensingh, and Jamalpur.

Among the 114 elephants that died in the southeast region, 7 were shot, 26 killed by electric traps, 18 died in accidents, 40 from illness, 15 due to old age, and 10 for unidentified reasons.

The Forest Department’s Elephant Conservation Action Plan 2018–2027 contains limited information on the trafficking of elephant tusks or body parts. However, the plan cautions that increasing wildlife trafficking in India and Myanmar could put Bangladesh’s elephant population at greater risk.

Citing a 2004 study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the plan also notes that a hill community in the region is known to hunt elephants for meat. Between 1992 and 2016, the plan documented seven cases of elephant body-part theft.

The last comprehensive elephant survey conducted in 2016 by IUCN found 268 elephants in Bangladesh. Following that study, the organization classified the species as “critically endangered.”

Under Bangladesh’s Wildlife Conservation Act, killing an elephant is a punishable crime, carrying a minimum jail term of two years and up to seven years, along with a fine ranging from Tk 100,000 to Tk 1 million.