How the very existence of
Africa’s elephants is threatened by poachers, traffickers and Asia’s appetite
for ivory
Bloated and eerily upright the
large adult elephant was still standing where it had been killed - just next to
the stream - its face hacked off.
It had been fleeing the carnage
in the mud 100m or so away, where the remains of four other adults and one
young elephant lay fallen and disfigured, their tusks and trunks all taken for
ivory and meat.
Like a macabre statue, this faceless
animal stood as a landmark to the horrors of poaching, of the ivory trade, and
of the mass slaughter of the last remaining elephants in central Africa.
The pilot of the light aircraft
was out on a regular reconnaissance mission when circling vultures drew him to
the scene.
The armed rangers on patrol
nearby hadn't heard the shots, so it was the scavengers feasting on the
carcasses that had raised the alarm.
Garamba, in the north-eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo, is one of the oldest national parks in Africa,
designated in 1938.
It covers 14,000 sq km (5,500 sq
miles) dominated by savannah grasses, which when green and lush can reach 3m in
height, enveloping the elephants and concealing them even from the air.
It's tough going on foot with the
criss-crossing streams that feed the great Congo River, punctuated by papyrus
marsh, forest and scrub.
The park was made a World
Heritage Site in 1980 for its rare Northern White Rhinos, and with 22,000
elephants back then, they never seemed in danger.
But the last rhino was seen some
years ago. Poaching has wiped them out, and now with 95% of the elephants gone,
and the killing continuing week after week, these giants are going the same
way.
It's not a good neighbourhood for
conservation.
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