Elephant poaching skyrockets in African rain forest zones
| Libreville, Gabon
Poachers have killed more than 11,000 elephants in聽Gabon's Minkebe National Park rain forest since 2004,聽Gabon's government聽said on Wednesday, with the massacre fueled by increasing demand for ivory in聽Asia.
The densely-forested central African country is home to about half the world's roughly 100,000 remaining forest elephants, the smallest species of elephant and coveted by ivory dealers for their harder and straighter tusks.
A study conducted by聽Gabon's government聽along with advocacy groups聽World Wildlife Fund聽and the聽Wildlife Conservation Society聽found two-thirds of the forest elephants in Minkebe park had been killed off since 2004, or about 11,100.
"If we don't reverse this situation rapidly, the future of elephants in聽Africa聽will be compromised,"聽Lee White, executive secretary of聽Gabon's national parks agency, said in a statement issued by聽Gabon's presidency.
Demand for ivory for use in jewelery and ornamental items is rising fast in聽Asia. Conservationists say growing Chinese influence and investment in聽Africa聽has opened the door wider for the illicit trade in elephant tusks.
Poachers are often armed with large-caliber rifles and chainsaws to remove tusks, the statement issued by the presidency said. They have secret camps in the rain forest, evading small deployments of park guards and leaving rotting elephant carcasses in their wake.
A park official said most of the poachers were believed to be from neighboring聽Cameroon, where the government has deployed army helicopters and hundreds of troops to protect its own dwindling elephant population.
