Elephant conservation news 30 May - 5 June 2009
A female elephant and a calf are the latest victims to be killed by an Indian express train, The Hindu reported.
The elephants were killed on Wednesday on a part of track near Walayar, South India, notorious for elephant casualties.
The paper reports that the calf was hit first and dragged about 150 metres along the track before the train struck the adult.
Elephants in the area attempt to cross the tracks to reach farm crops on the other side.
Last March, Thaindian News reported that officials were considering erecting barbed wire fencing in the area to prevent elephant fatalities. Although an electric fence has been installed to keep elephants off the tracks and away from crops, the paper states that locals report it is rarely active.
Tanzanian customs officials arrested for part in ivory smuggling
Six Tanzanian customs officials have been arrested on suspicion of playing a part in multi-million pound ivory smuggling operations, according to This Day.
The six, from the Tanzanian Revenue Authority, are alleged to have taken bribes from smugglers and approved exportation documents allowing them to transport over 6.2 tonnes of elephant tusks to Vietnam in March.
Last month, authorities in the Philippines also discovered a shipment of 3.5 tonnes of elephant tusks, which had arrived from Tanzania.
Rare Sumatran elephants 'poisoned by local farmers'
Three rare Sumatran elephants found dead in Indonesia are believed to have been poisoned by local farmers, The Associated Press reported.
The body of a female elephant was discovered on Monday near two others found last Thursday.
Much of the area is rented to local farmers for oil plantations.
"Maybe the villagers were worried the wild elephants would attack their plantations," Eddy Santoso of the local Conservation and Natural Resources Agency said. "They probably scattered poison there."
Last month, the bodies of two adult male elephants were found in the area with their tusks removed. It is believed that they had been poisoned with pineapples spiked with cyanide.
