‘Massacre’ of 200 elephants in Cameroon wildlife park

Poachers have killed more than 200 elephants in Cameroon in just six weeks, in a “massacre” fuelled by Asian demand for ivory.

A regional governor said poachers from Chad and Sudan had decimated the elephant population of the 543,632 acres Bouba Ndjida National Park in Cameroon’s far north in a brief dry season killing spree.

Gambo Haman, governor of Cameroon’s North region, said: “We are talking about a very serious case of trans-frontier poaching, involving well-armed poachers with modern weapons from Sudan and Chad who are decimating this wildlife species to make quick money from the international ivory trade.”

Speaking on local radio, Mr Haman said some of the poachers were on horseback and operated in league with the local population, who were given free elephant meat and were glad to be rid of the huge animals that damage their crops.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said cross-border poaching was common during the dry season but the scale of the killings so far this year was unprecedented.

“This latest massacre is massive and has no comparison to those of the preceding years,” the group said in a statement.

IFAW said it was not clear how many elephants remained in Cameroon, but a 2007 estimate put the figure a between 1,000 and 5,000.

Citing a record number of large-scale ivory seizures in 2011, conservation group Traffic, a which tracks trends in wildlife trading, has warned of a surge in elephant poaching in Africa to meet Asian demand for tusks for use in jewellery and ornaments.

Mr Haman said a group of 50 poachers had killed six Chadian soldiers who tried to arrest them as they fled with the ivory.

He added: “In January we counted 146 [elephant] carcasses and since the beginning of this month we’ve had close to 60. This may only be a tip of the iceberg as some may have been killed in parts of the park that we cannot access.”

Cameroon has dispatched a rapid reaction force to the zone but Mr Haman said there were not enough troops to cover the remote park.

Traffic has said that the spike in poaching and illegal ivory trade in Africa was a direct consequence of China’s investment drive into the continent.

Wildlife experts said 2011 was the worst on record for killing of elephants since ivory sales were banned in 1989.

The IFAW said estimates suggested as many as 3,000 elephants were killed by poachers across the continent last year.

It warned that countries such as Chad could lose their entire elephant population in the very near future if current poaching levels are sustained.