Hsu/Saw (NSS) - Sep 1 

According to a resident who spoke to The Statesman, PDF forces in Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region, are illegally hunting and selling meat from Myanmar golden deer and other protected species within the Chatthin Wildlife Sanctuary.

This protected area was created mainly to conserve the Myanmar golden deer—a species unique to the country—though reports indicate that only a few remain within its borders.

Female Myanmar golden deer typically give birth to a single fawn between October and December, following a mating season that spans from February to early May.

Reports indicate that PDF forces have maintained control over the Chatthin Wildlife Sanctuary and adjacent regions since June 2022.

“The current situation is that over the past two days, they have been selling deer meat. The PDF have been hunting and killing them for sale. They’ve been doing this for a while, so most of the deer have already been wiped out; there aren’t many left. Of those that remain, they only spare them because they run away—perhaps only forty or fifty are left. Since they have guns, they simply shoot any deer they encounter. The deer, for their part, try to escape wherever they can. Sometimes, they get shot and killed while wandering in the fields at night,” he continued.

Sources point out that local markets in PDF-controlled zones are selling meat from several species—including pangolins, wild cats, and rabbits—alongside the Myanmar golden deer.

“If it’s an animal, they just hunt it. Rare pangolins are no longer there. All the PDF groups are selling everything from wild cats to rabbits. But they haven’t exported to other countries,” he continued.

Spanning 268.2 square kilometers across Sagaing Region's Kanbalu and Kawlin townships, Chatthin Wildlife Sanctuary has been a protected area since its establishment in 1941. –