Slaughtered and SKINNED to make Chinese medicines: Boom in demand for elephant hide fuels 'non-stop' killing in Myanmar and 'is a bigger threat to the species than the ivory trade'

A boom in Chinese demand for elephant skin is fuelling 'non-stop' killing of the animals in Myanmar and is a bigger threat to Asian herds than the ivory trade, activists have warned.

Shocking photos have emerged showing piles of grey hide and carcasses of skinned elephants left to rot by cruel poachers in Myanmar's forests.

The biggest market for the products is in China, where the tough skin is ground up and used to treat stomach or human skin ailments, or sold as jewellery in the form of blood-red beads and pendants.

Conservationists from Britain's Elephant Family, say the items are increasingly advertised and sold on the internet and warned the industry is posing a threat to Asia's wild herds even greater than the ivory trade.

It says the threat is currently greatest in Myanmar, but warns that the Asian elephant could become extinct in half the areas where it ranges if the problem escalates.

The threat exceeds that from the ivory trade because poachers are targeting any elephant, not just those with tusks, the group claimed in a new study called 'Skinned: The growing appetite for Asian Elephants'.

Unlike poaching for ivory, the skin trade does not discriminate between genders and ages in elephants, making them far more vulnerable.

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