AR-News: (MALAYSIA) Mourning elephants ransack southern Bangladeshi village

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/5/23/latest/17478Mourninge&sec=latest 

thestar online
Sunday, May 23, 2004    
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP): Rampaging wild elephants destroyed huts and 
sent villagers fleeing after one of their herd was killed by poachers in 
southeastern Bangladesh, a conservation official said Sunday. 
Poachers shot dead a young male elephant and cut off its tusks on Thursday in 
the forested hills of Cox's Bazar district, 300 kilometers (185 miles) 
southeast of the capital Dhaka, said forest ranger Shyamol Mitra. 
Following the killing, a herd of more than 20 elephants went on a rampage, 
uprooting trees, destroying nearly 50 straw huts, and forcing nearly 1,000 
villagers to flee to safety, Mitra said. 
Some of the elephants stood guard over the dead body, chasing away any humans 
who tried to approach. Some were heard making mournful sounds, the forest 
ranger said. 
Police have launched a hunt for the poachers. The killing of elephants and 
sale of ivory is banned in this South Asian nation. 
The offense carries up to five years in jail. Still, poachers roam 
Bangladesh's jungles because a single tusk weighing 30 kilograms (66 pounds) can sell 
for as much as 60,000 takas (US$1,000) in neighboring Myanmar, India and 
Thailand. 
____________________________________ 
for the news items that Animalconcerns 
volunteers have entered on the site
go to the Animalconcerns.org main page 
and click on "More News Headlines."

`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````------

    "The day may come when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those 
rights which never could have been withholden from them but by the hand of
tyranny. - Jeremy Bentham 1748 - 1832 
The question is not can they REASON, nor can they TALK, but can they SUFFER?" 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/ar-news/attachments/20040523/e6587fe2/attachment.html