Global News - August 2008
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Elephants in central Africa 'are being threatened by poachers'
Tue 26 August 2008 14:00 UK — Africa,Elephants, Rhinos, Hippos
The director of one of central Africa's most important wildlife reserves has warned that rebels and soldiers from the Democratic Republic of Congo are increasingly targeting elephants in the area to supply ivory to china.
In an interview with the Bloomberg news agency, Virunga National Park's director, Emmanuel de Merode, warned that as many as ten per cent of the area's elephant population has been killed by poachers in recent years.
Specifically, Mr de Merode said that seven elephants have been killed in the park in the last two weeks, bringing the total dead in the year to 24.
"There is a large presence of military forces," he told the news agency. "There is a correlation between this and the growth in Chinese ivory sales."
While 2,889 elephants lived in the park in 1960, experts are concerned that fewer than 200 may now survive in the 790,000-hectare area.
According to the news agency, "Congo's national army, a Rwandan Hutu militia, a Congolese Tutsi rebel group and local militias" are all fighting for control of the area and all groups are reportedly targeting elephants for meat and to generate "income from ivory sales to China".
A recent report from the University of Washington warned that African elephants could become extinct by 2020 unless action to protect them from poachers is taken urgently.
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