WWF deplores elephant slaughter

WWF has deplored the mass slaughter of elephants in northern Cameroon, and has called on governments in the region to address the issue of cross border raids by heavily armed poaching gangs. Estimates of the number of elephants killed in Bouba Ndjida National Park by a gang crossing the border from Chad and believed to be supplying Sudan ivory markets that service ivory trafficking to Asia range commonly exceed 200. “"WWF strongly condemns the brutal slaughter of 200 elephants in Cameroon,” said Jim Leape, Director General of WWF International. “We call on President Paul Biya to launch a full response to assure the global community that he takes this criminal act seriously and will work with Chad and Sudan to bring these criminals to justice." "This is one of the most horrific case of wildlife slaughter that has emerged in a long while, that only goes to highlight the urgent need for local and global action to protect these vulnerable animals." A 2008 survey showed the park to be home to an estimated 350 elephants. About 120 fresh elephant carcasses, with tusks removed have been found in just the northern section of the park. “The large scale of elephants killed in Bouba Jdjida requires a strong intervention of the Cameroon government to avoid similar disasters in other protected areas,” said Lamine Sebogo, WWF’s African Elephant Programme Coordinator. The park is poorly resourced to deal with the scale of the assault it experienced this year – according to its conservator “the park is 220,000 hectares with only six game rangers very poorly equipped, whereas the poachers used Kalishnikovs”.