Dealer Linked To Elephant Tranquilizer Overdose Death Faces Murder Charge

A drug dealer is facing a murder charge after being linked to a fatal overdose in Minnesota involving a synthetic opioid meant for tranquilizing elephants.

Jacob David Svobodny, 28, is charged with third-degree murder, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in Carver County, Minn., which could send him away for 25 years. Officers investigating the Jan. 7, 2017, death of an unidentified man at an apartment complex in Chaska allege Svobodny sold heroin cut with carfentanil to the victim, knowing the batch was tainted with a potent opioid, reports KSTP.

Carfentanil is an elephant tranquilizer roughly 10,000 times more powerful than morphine. Leah Peterson, a woman who drove Svobodny to buy the heroin, says Svobodny asked her for help selling the supply. She allegedly texted the victim to arrange the sale. Peterson, who is charged with aiding and abetting third-degree murder, said Svobodny forced the victim to inject some of the heroin in their car before leaving the area.

After learning the victim suffered a fatal overdose, Svobodny allegedly told Peterson he was “pretty sure” there was fentanyl cut into the heroin he sold and to stay quiet. A subsequent report from the medical examiners office, however, confirmed the victim died from carfentanil.

The powerful substance is increasingly cropping up in both heroin and cocaine supplies in communities throughout the country. Officials in Washington County, Pa., issued an alert in February warning that several recent overdose cases turned up positive for cocaine and carfentanil.

In neighboring Westmoreland County, where 30 overdose deaths were attributed to carfentanil in 2017, officials say overdoses linked to the substance increased toward the end of the year.

“We saw a few cases pop up early in 2017, but then by the end of the year it really picked up,” Ken Bacha, coroner for Westmoreland County, told Trib Live. “This drug is so powerful and so deadly.”

Drug overdoses, fueled by synthetic opioids, are now the leading cause of accidental death for Americans under age 50, killing more than 64,000 people in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

National Institute on Drug Abuse data released on Sept. 7 paints a grim outlook for the future of the drug crisis ravaging American communities.

The study predicts America’s addiction epidemic will continue to deteriorate, pushing drug deaths to an estimated 71,600 in 2017. If the estimates prove accurate, 2017 will be the second year in a row drug deaths surpass the Vietnam War’s U.S. casualties.

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Tusks seized from New Alipore house

Alipore: Two elephant tusks weighing around 31kg were seized from a house in New Alipore Block B on Tuesday

One of the tusks is 148cm-long and has a girth of 35cm, while the other has a length of 132cm and a girth of 34cm.

"The tusks were found in the possession of Rabin Paul. We are trying to find out the ownership before taking further action," an officer of the CID said.

The team that raided the New Alipore house following a "specific" tip-off comprised representatives of the CID and the wildlife wing of the state forest department. Calcutta police helped the raiding team.

Possessing or trading in ivory is banned around the world.

A kilogram of uncarved ivory can cost anything between Rs 20,000 and Rs 70,000 in the black market, while intricately carved items can fetch up to crores of rupees.

"Ivory trade within India has come down significantly. Poachers usually target the illegal markets in China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and some other Asian countries where the demand for ivory is high.

There, ivory is used in personalised nameplates, statues, and other items," a forest department official said.

Elephant are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Killing the animal or keeping any ivory item can attract at least three years in jail and a fine of Rs-50,000.

India is home to 27,300 of the 50,000-odd Asian elephants found across the world, according to the 2017 count. At the turn of the century, there were 2,50,000 Asian elephants in 13 countries.

More than 80 elephants were killed in India over the past three years.

A report released by the environment ministry states that Karnataka has the largest number of elephants, followed by Assam and Kerala.

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Domesticated elephant’s first baby dies

According to Huynh Trung Luan, director of the Dak Lak Elephant Conservation Centre, said that 38-year-old elephant H’Ban Nang gave birth to a 90-kilo male baby on the evening of October 8. The death was probably due to the prolonged labour. 

Some months ago, owner Y Mu Bkrong announced that his elephant H'Ban Nang was pregnant, which was greeted as good news for elephant conservation. After that, H'Ban Nang was relieved from work to relax in a forested area far from people to await the birth.

The Dak Lak Elephant Conservation Centre made careful preparations for the birth in the support of international animal preservation experts. However, the baby died before being born.

Statistics from Dak Lak Elephant Conservation Centre showed that the number of domesticated elephants plummeted from 502 in 1980 to just 44 this year because of overwork, old age and clashes with wild elephants. 19 of the animals are too old and can't breed anymore.

Last year, the centre started a research project to improve the fertility rate among domesticated elephants. The owners will be informed when is the best time for breeding to match elephants together.

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Dong Nai tests electric fence to protect elephants

A 50km long electric fence has been put into operation on a trial basis to prevent wild elephants from wandering into residential areas in the southern province of Dong Nai, according to the provincial Forest Protection Sub-Department.

The 2.2m high electric fence runs across Vinh Cuu district’s Ma Da and Phu Ly communes and Dinh Quan district’s Thanh Son commune,. 

Electricity is regularly switched on and off every one third of a second, which helps keep the elephants at bay while not inflicting harm on them.

Along the fence there are many gates for local residents to pass through.

The fence was built at total cost of 85 billion VND (3.7 million USD) sourced from state and local budgets.

Dong Nai province’s forest is currently home to about 15 wild elephants. In recent years, there have been increasing conflicts between local farmers and wild elephants as the animals approached residential areas and destroyed local crops and orchards. In the past seven years, nine wild elephants died and one person was killed by elephants.

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3 tonnes of elephant tusks seized from smugglers

Vietnamese authorities have seized nearly three tonnes of ivory hidden among boxes of fruit, officials said Sunday, the latest haul to spotlight the country's key role in the global wildlife smuggling trade.
Police in the central province of Thanh Hoa found 2.7 tonnes of tusks inside cartons on the back of a truck that was on its way to Hanoi, according to a report on their website.

"This is the largest seizure of smuggled ivory ever in Thanh Hoa province," the report said.
State media said the elephant tusks originated from South Africa.

The truck driver claimed he was unaware of what he was transporting, according to a report in state-controlled Tuoi Tre newspaper.

Police declined to comment further when contacted by AFP on Sunday.

The global trade in elephant ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after populations of the African giants dropped from millions in the mid-20th century to around 600,000 by the end of the 1980s.

There are now believed to be some 415,000, with 30,000 illegally killed each year.
Prices for a kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of ivory can reach as high as $1,100.

Vietnam outlawed the ivory trade in 1992 but the country remains a top market for ivory products prized locally for decorative purposes, or in traditional medicine despite having no proven medicinal qualities.

Weak law enforcement in the communist country has allowed a black market to flourish, and Vietnam is also a busy thoroughfare for tusks trafficked from Africa destined for other parts of Asia, mainly China.

Last October, Vietnam customs authorities discovered about 3.5 tonnes of elephant tusks at Cat Lai port in Ho Chi Minh city, all in crates of wood, including a hefty two-tonne haul packed into a single shipment.

In 2015, 2.2 tonnes of tusks, originating from Mozambique, were discovered and seized northern Hai Phong port.

And last week authorities in Hong Kong seized 7.2 tonnes of ivory, the largest haul in the city for three decades.

While low level couriers are sometimes arrested across Asia very few wildlife trafficking kingpins are brought to justice.

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Elephants die of starvation in Vietnamese

Several elephants that were used to serve tourists in central highlands Dak Lak Province have died for unknown reasons while grazing in the forest.

On June 27, the Dak Lak Elephant Conservation Centre said local people had found the body of an elephant at the Yon Don National Park in Buon Don District. The elephant’s body was already decomposing.

After investigation, local authorities in Buon Don District found that the dead elephant was a 40-year-old female named H’Yaly. It is under the management of Y Bich Nie, a local man from Krong Na Commune’s EaMar Highlands Village.

The elephant is estimated to have been dead for around one month. No injuries were found on the body. It’s likely that the elephant died of starvation.

The elephant’s owner, Y Bich, said, “I released the elephant to the forest to graze on May 30. However, it had not returned by June 24, so we decided to go into the forest to look for it. There we found its body.”

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Elephants die of starvation in Vietnamese forests

Several elephants that were used to serve tourists in central highlands Dak Lak Province have died for unknown reasons while grazing in the forest.

Tourist elephant found dead in forests
On June 27, the Dak Lak Elephant Conservation Centre said local people had found the body of an elephant at the Yon Don National Park in Buon Don District. The elephant’s body was already decomposing.

After investigation, local authorities in Buon Don District found that the dead elephant was a 40-year-old female named H’Yaly. It is under the management of Y Bich Nie, a local man from Krong Na Commune’s EaMar Highlands Village.

The elephant is estimated to have been dead for around one month. No injuries were found on the body. It’s likely that the elephant died of starvation.

The elephant’s owner, Y Bich, said, “I released the elephant to the forest to graze on May 30. However, it had not returned by June 24, so we decided to go into the forest to look for it. There we found its body.”

According to him, an H’Yaly elephant is estimated to be worth VND400 million (USD18,788) and his family has signed an elephant tourism service contract with Ban Don Tourism Centre.

In 2012, another elephant owned by Y Bich also died for unknown reasons.

In April 2014, a 62-year-old male elephant from Ho Lak Tourism Area was also found dead near a local lake after being released to graze.

Authorities are still investigating before pronouncing any official cause of the animals’ deaths.

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Vietnamese elephants to be extinct in next 10 years

The warning came after a series of elephants have been killed or died of unknown reasons.

According to recent statistics, nine adult wild elephants have died in Vietnam since 2009.

Scott Roberton attributed the murder of wild animals to the ineffective implementation of Vietnam’s regulations on wildlife preservation. In addition, he said, there are no clear messages from functional agencies about wild animal-related crimes.

Mr Roberton said that many other species of wild animals, including primates, turtles and tigers, will also be in danger of extinction.

If no drastic measures are taken by functional agencies, more wild animals will disappear in Vietnam in the near future, he added.

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Elephant reportedly dies of exhaustion while serving tourists in Vietnam; gayal drops dead

A 40-year-old elephant has died while serving travelers at a tourist site in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, while a gayal has also beathed its last in Ninh Thuan Province in the south-central region.

The People’s Committee of Krong Na Commune, Buon Don District in Dak Lak said on Sunday that local agencies have made a report about the death of the elephant.

The animal died of exhaustion while serving tourists at the Ban Don tourist area, according to news website VietNamNet.

Another news website reported that the animal met its end while carrying tourists in the site.

Competent agencies examined the body before destroying it according to current regulations.

The dead animal was owned by Y Ka Tuk, a local man, who has conducted an offering ceremony for it in accordance with local traditional customs.

When alive, the elephant was worth VND700 million (US$32,830).

On January 15 in the same province, another tamed elephant, which was 36 years old, fell down a hill and slipped away.

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Declining forested land triggers elephant conflict

The continual erosion of forested land by local people has narrowed the living space for elephants in Dong Nai Province, leading to more conflict. In addition, the province’s elephant conservation project has still proceeded at a very slow pace.

Between 2009 and 2011, up to nine elephants died in the southern province of Dong Nai, which were initially suspected of being killed by people.

Recently, the only elephant in Tan Phu protective forest was also killed.

According to the forest management board, for many years, the elephants have destroyed sugarcane and crops grown by people.

Conservationists warned that if more elephants continue to be killed, the species faces extinction in Dong Nai.

Local people often use traditional methods to drive elephants away such as setting fire on cloths soaked with petrol or throwing small gas tank into them to cause explosions. However, these actions have made elephants more aggressive, which results in more conflicts with people.

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Two tonnes of suspected elephant tusks found at Sai Gon port

Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – Two tonnes of goods suspected to be elephant tusks were discovered recently at Sai Gon Port by the Customs Office at the port and t he Police Department for Smuggling Prevention C74 under the Ministry of Public Security.

According to the port’s Customs Office, checks on a batch of wood imported from Mozambique revealed 12 hollow logs containing 569 chunks suspected to be elephant tusks, weighing a total 2,052kg.

All the suspicious goods were sent to the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for identification.-VNA

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Baby elephant found dead in Yok Don National Park

VietNamNet Bridge – On the morning of December 14, rangers of the Yok Don National Park, in Ea Sup district, Dak Lak province, cooperated with the local authorities to examine the scene where a baby elephant was dead.

Mr. Hoang Van Xuan, deputy director of Yok Don National Park, said the dead elephant was detected by rangers at about 5pm on December 13. This male elephant is about 1-2 months old and was decomposing.

The elephant is about 1.2 m long, 90 cm high and weighs approximately 100 kg.

According to authorities, it is possible that the baby elephant was trampled by his mother while drinking water.

At the scene, the elephant head and trunk were pressed to the ground.

Since early 2009, Dak Lak has had 14 wild elephants die, including up to 6 in 2012, by different reasons.

Wild elephant deaths investigation ordered

The Yok Don National Park has asked local authorised agencies to conduct an investigation into why two wild elephants died last Saturday in Central Highlands Dak Lak Province's Ea Sup District.

The elephants - one female and one male with his tusks removed and his trunks cut out - are believed to belong to a herd of 29 wild elephants living in the national park.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Tran Manh Hieu, deputy head of the district's Police Department, said that the elephants were likely killed.

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