Growing Taste For Elephant Meat In Thailand Raises Risk Of Extinction Claims Horrified Animal Welfare Group

• Increased demand for meat including tusks and sex organs
  
• Meat order was allegedly made by Phuket restaurants
  

The elephant, a national symbol in Thailand, is facing a new threat because of a developing taste for its meat in the country, it was claimed today.

The new interest in consuming the animal includes everything from trunks to sex organs, and could pose a significant risk to the survival of the species.

Wildlife officials said that they were alerted to the practice after finding two elephants slaughtered last month in a national park in western Thailand.

At risk: Although elephant poaching is illegal in Thailand, the new taste for eating their meat includes everything from trunks to sex organs, posing a significant risk to the survival of the species

'The poachers took away the elephants' sex organs and trunks ... for human consumption,' Damrong Phidet, director-general of Thailand's wildlife agency, said in a telephone interview.

Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1krEqmhkW