Informit article: They shoot Elephants, don’t they?

I recently stopped at the huge Rong Kluea market on the Thai-Cambodian border. These border markets are a mecca for smuggled goods, so when I saw a solitary stall at the end of a row displaying tiger’s teeth on leather thongs, ivory bangles and tusks, I wasn’t surprised. The guy selling the stuff looked like a typical Thai gangster: tattoos, scars, bad teeth and only one eye. It was almost comical. The ivory bangle, he said smoothly, would set me back 12,000 baht ($475). But less comical were the elephant tusks. They were small, no doubt taken from an immature male.