Poachers kill 28 elephants in south-east Cameroon

POACHERS have killed 28 ­endangered forest elephants in national parks in south-east Cameroon in recent weeks, said conservation group WWF.

With demand for ivory ­rising from Asia, poachers have ­reduced the population of ­Africa’s forest elephants by 62 per cent over the last decade, conservationists say.

A WWF representative said between 10 February and 1 March, the carcasses of 23 elephants, stripped of their tusks, were found in the Nki national park. Five more were found in eastern Lobeke national park.

“The poachers used automatic weapons,” the spokesman said.