The scourge of the skin poachers: Hideous sight of a butchered elephant exposes the sick trade in animals' hides to feed soaring demand in China

Demand for medicines and jewellery made from Asian elephant skin (pictured right and inset) has caused a 'dramatic increase' in poaching in the rainforests of Burma. 


The butchered giant (pictured left) is just one casualty of a grotesque new trade that is resulting in an escalating number of skinned elephant carcasses being discovered in the vast jungles of the tropical country. Elephant Family, a British-based charity dedicated to saving the Asian elephant went undercover to expose the growing trade.