The killing of African elephants is out of control

Poachers have killed more than 11,000 elephants at Gabon, once considered an African elephant elephant paradise, to get ivory from 2004 to present.

More than half of African forest elephants, about 40,000, live in Gabon. Elephant ivory in Gabon is an attraction for poachers because they are very hard and have pink color.

The Gabon National Parks Authority (ANPN), the International Nature Protection Fund (WWF) and the Nature Conservancy Association (WCS) have conducted a study to assess elephant poaching in Gabon, BBC reported.

Gabon was once considered the paradise of African jungle elephants. (Photo: worldwildlife.org)

"The results of the study show that 44-77% of elephants in Gabon, equivalent to more than 11,000, were killed in the period from 2204 to now," said Dr. Fiona Maisels, a WCS expert. , stated.

Conservationists always thought Gabon was a safe place for African wild elephants. But new research shows that elephant hunting here is out of government control. Conservation organizations say the high demand for ivory jewelry and other products in Asia has led poachers to boost the killing of elephants over the years.

Previously the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon's neighbor, was a hot spot for elephant poaching. But as demand for ivory skyrocketed in Asia, poachers from Congo swarmed into forest patches in Gabon's Minkebe National Park to find elephants.

The Gabon government has stepped up anti-poaching measures, but Bas Huijbregts, a conservationist of WWF, says those measures do not work.

"The area of ​​Minkebe National Park is about 30,000 km ² , which is equivalent to the area of ​​Belgium. The trail does not exist in Minkebe National Park, so forest guards cannot detect and track poachers." Huijbregts said.

Authorities acknowledge that about 50 to 100 elephants are killed every day in Minkebe National Park in 2011. Most killers kill elephants from Cameroon. After killing elephants, they hired ivory transporters to cross Gabon's northern border.