Wednesday, March 26, 2008

2 Cambodian men arrested for killing elephant with poison

2008-03-26

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Two Cambodian men could face up to three years behind bars for allegedly poisoning an elephant and sawing off its tusks to sell on the black market, officials said Wednesday.

The male elephant, which was chained to a tree by its owner in Rattanakiri province, about 325 kilometers (200 miles) northeast of the capital Phnom Penh, was found dead in March 2007.

Police at the time said the killers had doused jack fruit, a tropical fruit eaten by elephants, with rat poison.

The tusks of the 62-year-old elephant, measuring almost 1 meter (3 feet) each, had been removed.

The two suspects, Men Rattana, 42, and Klem Sam Ouen, 27, were arrested this week, almost a year after the animal's killing, said Hor Ang, the provincial deputy police chief. They were charged with intentional destruction of private property because the elephant belonged to a Cambodian family and was not living in the wild.

Police raided the suspects' homes after being tipped off by villagers who had overheard the two men discussing prices for elephant tusks, Hor Ang said.

He said the tusks could fetch up to US$3,000 (€1,900) each in the illegal ivory trade.

Elephants are the main means of transport for hilltribe people in northeastern Cambodia. Conservationists have said that the end of years of armed conflict in Cambodia has allowed the elephant population and other wildlife to repopulate Cambodian jungles.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

The king should examined this type of cases to see why these people committed this type of crime. If they are doing it to survive, they should be pardoned or have reduce sentence, but if they are doing it for greed than live them in jail. That is the only way that I can see that monarchy will survive in Cambodia into the far future.

Anonymous said...

No, this guy should be jailed for life. No matter what, he is killing the animals just for the tusk.

Anonymous said...

Well, I am sure he asked the elephant nicely for the tusks, but the elephant turned him down flat. So where should he go from here?

Anonymous said...

I'm sure we dont have a lot of elephants in cambodia. We should not harm them elephants.

Anonymous said...

Well, when we have to choose which should live, between elephant and people. People should always be the winner.

Anonymous said...

god, what a low-life they are, killing elephants. people need to be educated a lot more about how precious animal life is. please continue to educate the public about this, although this may be an isolated incidence. still, it speaks volume of how uneducated people can be, there. thank you.

Anonymous said...

Easy for you to say because you are not struggling to feed your family.

Anonymous said...

Awww! Come on!!! Cambodians kill 1.7 millions of it's people; you think for a minute that they won't kill the damn elephant? WE DON'T HAVE ANYTHING IN CAMBODIA, WE SHOULDN'T KILL ANYTHING IN CAMBODIA..... PERIOD!!!

Anonymous said...

The name of the game is survival, and the is Human right numero uno.