Over two surveys conducted between November 2016 and June 2017, TRAFFIC’s researchers found more than 10,000 ivory items being offered on sale across 852 physical outlets and 17 online platforms, suggesting an ivory market that has continued to thrive over the past few decades. Physical retail stores in Ho Chi Minh City and Buon Ma Thuot had the highest number of ivory items for sale, the surveys found, but two villages, Ban Don and Lak, had a disproportionately high number of items on sale compared to the number of stores. Among the online platforms, social media sites had the highest number of posts offering ivory for sale. The ivory markets in Vietnam are, however, changing constantly. TRAFFIC’s researchers not only found ivory for sale in places where previous studies had found none, they also observed shifts in markets within their two surveys, over just an eight-month period. The surveyors also found that the sellers were aware that selling ivory was illegal, but “it does not deter them from offering it openly for sale in Vietnam,” they said. Vietnam’s illegal ivory markets are still thriving, according to a new report by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.Over two surveys conducted between

The study, “From tusk to trinket: persistent illegal ivory markets in Viet Nam,” documents surveys recently carried out at 852 retail outlets in 13 locations and 60 individual sellers on 17 online platforms.Although selling ivory is illegal in Vietnam, researchers found more than 10,500 items for sale, demonstrating the persistence of the ivory retail market.But the report also found that retailers are often transitory.Although ivory was found in all 13 locations, its sale appeared to highly transitory in nature: repeat visits found that 43 per cent of retail outlets observed with ivory had only just began to sell, stopped selling or simply closed over the course of the survey. The comparable figure for online retailers was 86 per cent.There are clear links between Vietnam’s physical ivory markets and online outlets, the report said.The survey found retail outlets expanding their networks to sell ivory items online and vice versa.In eight instances, online sellers were either linked to physical stores or physical stores were also selling their items on social media websites, e-commerce websites or online forums.Tourists, particularly from China, are significant buyers.Chinese nationals were reported as buyers by multiple sellers, and tourist villages emerged as particularly significant retailers of ivory.Prices were

Illustrative image (Source: dantri) Dong Nai (VNA) – Wild elephants have been upsetting local people in Dinh Quan district, in the southern province of Dong Nai, by destroying their homes and crops, causing serious economic losses. According to statistics from the district’s forest protection station, forest elephants have visited Thanh Son commune on dozens of occasions, destroying large areas of mango, banana, and cashew nut farms. A number of guard stations and temporary housing for local people were also pulled down by the elephants. Vice head of the station Nguyen Van Chieu said the 14 wild elephants were divided into two or three groups with three to eight individuals each group, often travelling to hamlet 5, Thanh Son commune to find food and water in ponds and lakes in the area. Some local residents have coordinated with the station’s staff to chase away the elephants and protect them from harm by other less empathetic residents. In order to prevent conflicts between elephants and local people, the provincial forest protection department recently built a 50-km electric fence system worth 74 billion VND (3.18 million USD) to separate natural forests from farming areas. The department has proposed to build an additional 20km

This tear-jerking video shows a large herd of elephants mourning over the passing of their leader near Kalawewa reserve in Sri Lanka. While there are many instances prove that animals also feel joy and love, not many know that they are capable to feel sadness and distress as well.As shown by the heartbreaking footage, nearly 300 elephants gather to pay their last respect to their former leader who was allegedly killed by a rival.The dead elephant can be seen lying on the banks of a lake near Anuradhapura while tens of elephants gather around it.The video also shows the elephants gather around the dead elephant silently as they mourn together.A baby elephant can also be seen reaching out to the dead elephant with its trunk before returning to the herd.According to Daily Mail, the unusual sight also drew a crowd from the locals who flocked the scene to take pictures and videos of the extraordinarily huge herd of elephants.Elephants are some of the animals that are known to mourn over their dead relatives by touching the carcass or covering it with leaves.This was not the first time elephants were seen to display such behavior. Rare footage from National Geographic taken

Elephants are getting abused and tortured daily. They are beaten brutally with bullhooks and bamboo sticks. They are beat nearly to death so tourists can ride them and watch them do human things such as paint, play football, and other things animals should not be forced to do. Elephants are endangered as is so we need to do something about it, now before we're too late. We can help to end it though. To save the elephants. If we all mark out "riding an elephant in Thailand" off our bucketlist, we can end this brutal cycle now.Please credit and share this article with others using this link:https://www.thepetitionsite.com/993/732/088/stand-up-to-help-elephants-getting-abused-in-thailand/

A Buddhist monk was trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants at a spiritual retreat - after refusing to move his tent.Phra Prapop Chanphaikhor had been spending 19 nights in the jungle contemplating religious teachings.The 25-year-old ad almost successfully reached the end of the period of seclusion.But he defied warnings from local elephant trackers that there were wild bulls approaching the area and he refused to move his tent for the last two nights of his retreat.He told them that he enjoyed the "peaceful atmosphere" and refused to leave - even though locals had warned him was meditating in the middle of a route often used by the herds.Tragically, Prapop was found dead with broken ribs, arms, and legs near his meditation tent at the palm plantation in Chachoengsao, central Thailand last Wednesday morning.The village leader Somjit Sathuchard was the first who found the dead the body of the monk lying in the wrecked plantation. It had been dragged 15 metres from his tent.Rescue workers took his body to Tha Takiab Hospital, where doctors said he had been dead for at least six hours, which suggests he was trampled in the early hours of the morning.Village leader Somjit