A fondness for rings and bracelets embedded with elephant hairs is fuelling a worrying fashion fad in a country notorious for its illicit wildlife trade, from rhino horns to pangolin scales, tiger teeth and bear bile. Deadly trend: A vendor holding a chopped elephant tail with hair for sale. Earrings and rings decorated with elephant hair and ivory sold at a shop at a tourist resort in Dak Lak province. As legend goes, finding a tail hair by chance on the forest floor was considered good luck – local lore that has been peddled in recent years by shop owners selling the strands, along with ivory jewellery and Buddha statues that can fetch up to US$900 (RM3,727). But actively cutting off tails or plucking hairs was never part of the tradition.

Source: thestar September 27, 2018 01:07 UTC