Bouba Ndjida National Park Elephants Killed In Poaching Spree, Activists Claim

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — Wildlife activists say poachers have slaughtered at least 200 elephants in four weeks in an ongoing killing spree in a Cameroonian national park.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare said Thursday that many orphaned elephant calves have been spotted in the Bouba Ndjida National Park and it is feared they may soon die of hunger and thirst.

The group is blaming poachers from neighboring Sudan, saying the elephants are killed for their ivory tusks that are smuggled to markets in Asia and Europe.

The organization called the scale of the killings massive and unprecedented, and urged Cameroon's government to take action.

Experts say large seizures of elephant tusks made last year the worst on record since ivory sales were banned in 1989.

Comments

[olitenup]

09:19 PM on 02/20/2012

This has made me profoundly sad this is what we have become. I cannot imagine how those intelligent creatures of God suffered.

[jhnnxn]

06:59 PM on 02/20/2012

The best way to prevent this is to purchase legally collected elephant products. Of course ivory is illegal, but hides are collected from animals in areas where culling is necessary to prevent overpopulation. The money raised from the sales helps fund the rangers to protect the reserves. Just like in the US, legally utilizing them as a renewable resource is the best way to assure continued populations.

[DrugSniffingCat]

10:09 PM on 02/19/2012

I'll never forget a picture I saw of an elephant with its face removed. It broke my heart to imagine this beautiful creature, suffering in pain and fear, alone with its murderers.

[zeeke]

10:44 AM on 02/19/2012

Not a proud member of this species.

[thunder405]

10:22 PM on 02/17/2012

My father just bought a legal hunt in Botswanna. They are incredibly expensive, yet hunting remains one of the most powerful forces behind conservation. Can't wait to have elephant leg barstools.

[jmbsjy]

09:40 AM on 02/18/2012

Disgusting! Elephant legs belong on the elephants. I would not come into a house that contained such things.

[dayala]

02:37 PM on 02/19/2012

disgusting, repulsive and destructive. you couldn't pay me a million to walk into that house.

[olitenup]

09:12 PM on 02/20/2012

Do you feel macho now after that remark?

[thunder405]

08:16 PM on 02/22/2012

It's not about being macho, the fact remains that my family's four separate safaris/trips to Africa have done more to help the locals and encourage conservation and game management than you will ever accomplish voicing your disdain on an online forum. FYI. If you want to ensure a species survival, one of the most effective means is to make it a profitable hunting venture. Hunting funds biologists and ecologists worldwide and creates an industry invested in the long term well being of the animals. These activities do more to actually help conservation than any protest by ALF, PETE, or your run of the mill greenist/anticorporationist. A mount only shows admiration for the animal itself, the artistry involved in taxidermy, and a general love of outdoorsmanship

[Vmathew]

08:43 PM on 02/17/2012

Every day these crimes are taking place, nothing seems to stop, just seems to get worse.
I need a little hope that people will do the right thing, "treat others as you would have done to you"
This includes wildlife in my mind. I remain speechless and endlessly sad.

[dayala]

02:38 PM on 02/19/2012

wait intil 2050 when there are 9.5 billion on this planet.

[Mrs Robinsons]

07:51 PM on 02/17/2012

It makes me afraid that there are enough rich people in the world
who would buy and hide ivory tusks...
(because obviously you could not display them...)
to
create a market for such behavior.

What kind of people
hold the world's money, anyway?

[thunder405]

10:25 PM on 02/17/2012

It's still legal to bring hide and tusks into the states from a few African nations, just gotta hunt it first.

[jhnnxn]

07:03 PM on 02/20/2012

100% wrong on the tusks. New ivory is 100% verboten. Hides are another matter and can be legally brought in. I have a perfectly legal pair of Dan Post elephant hide boots. The hides are legally collected from culling operations and are sold to fund the rangers.

[I-US]

11:09 AM on 02/17/2012

Anybody who thinks that poachers deserve sympathy has no idea about the violent trade in animals and animal parts.

[BMM22]

09:48 AM on 02/17/2012

The sad thing is, these poachers are simply trying to make a living. They're incredibly poor and underprivileged, and greedy crooks in the West and in China are taking advantage of their destitution to harvest ivory. The elephants are, of course, the biggest casualties, but I feel bad for these poachers as well. Welcome to the age of new imperialism.

[Beautiful World]

07:40 PM on 02/17/2012

Unfortunately most of the poachers will stop at nothing to obtain the tusks, including killing any human that stands in their way and often leaving the elephant painfully alive after it has been mutilated. Park rangers and anti-poaching enforcers have one of the most dangerous jobs and require military type training. The poachers are are doing something unethical and illegal.

But the responsibility for this is also shared with the greedy crooks as you mentioned.

[thunder405]

10:27 PM on 02/17/2012

How exactly to you take a bull's tusks while it is still alive?

[BMM22]

03:07 PM on 02/21/2012

It's quite a pitiful lose-lose for those on the ground in Africa. True, poachers make a conscious decision to poach, but I'd like to see just as many ivory buyers in China prosecuted as poachers in Africa. Until China gets its act together on the environment, whoever, that's not going to happen. Again - pity.

[jmbsjy]

09:41 AM on 02/18/2012

Sometimes I hate people.

[Thenintyninepointfive]

09:23 AM on 02/17/2012

The evilest creature on the planet is MAN. No wonder we were kicked out of the Garden of Eden !

[FaunaAndFlora]

11:27 PM on 02/17/2012

Then why were all the other animals kicked out of the Garden of Eden?

[Thenintyninepointfive]

08:54 AM on 02/18/2012

They did'nt get kicked out. We took them with us so we can EAT them. That's why we got kicked out in the first place, Man ate flesh not the apple as they try and mislead you to believe!

[tex4star]

08:31 AM on 02/17/2012

Estimates are every 9 to 44 minutes a species becomes extinct.......we could wake up and care a little bit or just sit and wait then some day that bell will ring for us.....shame

[zeeke]

10:45 AM on 02/19/2012

Sooner the better

[Blaze1111]

08:29 AM on 02/17/2012

We sit in the prison of this dark world with the key in our hand! This article truly saddens me.

[frank day]

08:17 AM on 02/17/2012

Chris Christie looks concerned.

[skylark]

08:03 AM on 02/17/2012

There should be huge bounties on turning in poachers and animal killers. Make killing poachers or at least turning them in more profitable than killing these magnificent animals. I would be happy to personally go to Cameroon and shoot poachers, if I could afford it.

[FaunaAndFlora]

11:33 PM on 02/17/2012

And yet you can afford a computer and (perhaps) other gadgetry that was made by slave labor. Isn't that special?

[skylark]

07:22 AM on 02/18/2012

1. Irrelevant to the discussion of poaching. 2. Are you not also using a computer, or are you using telepathy to post?

[Anjushri]

07:09 AM on 02/17/2012

It's indicative of our moral compartmentalisation that we are appalled by the killing of elephants, but we participate in the torture and murder of 56 billion nonhuman animals each year, mostly for our gustatory pleasure and another 1,140,000 sea animals are tortured and murdered every 30 seconds. This is morally unjustifiable. We need to realise that *all* animals deserve at least one right -- the right not to be used as property, as "things", as resources, and veganism is the step to taking that right seriously. It's the minimum standard of decency. If we care about nonviolence and social justice, then we must be vegan. Not vegan? Please start here http://www.bostonvegan.org and http://www.veganpamphlet.com