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Darke Lama, 50, a former Kathmandu tourist guide, is now Interpol's most-wanted wildlife trafficker, facing a red corner notice for the 2015 Satpura Tiger Reserve poaching case BHOPAL: Once a familiar face among European backpackers in Kathmandu, Darke Lama, 50, is today one of the most wanted wildlife traffickers in South Asia. Interpol has issued a red corner notice against him for his role in the 2015 Satpura Tiger Reserve poaching case in MP, placing his name on the wanted list of 195 countries.

Scores of elephants have been killed for their ivory in Botswana in recent months as a southern African country once considered a sanctuary for wildlife has seen a surge in poaching. Poachers are thought to have killed at least 60 elephants in the past three months in the north of the country and in Chobe National Park, one of the world's top wildlife destinations. Gunmen are particularly targeting the few remaining "big tusker" elephants which have already been hunted to near-extinction.

The most comprehensive data on poaching of African elephants comes from the Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) program, which reports numbers of illegally killed carcasses encountered by rangers. Recent studies utilizing MIKE data have reported that poaching of African elephants peaked in 2011 and has been decreasing through 2018. Closer examination of these studies, however, raises questions about the conclusion that poaching is decreasing throughout the continent.