Geneva, 28 feb ( EFE).-close to 450 elephants were killed recently by hunters poaching in the National Park Bouba Ndjida, in the North of Cameroon, reported today the body responsible for the Convention on international trade in endangered species of Fauna and Flora Savage (CITES).
This mass slaughter of pachyderms is not an isolated event and is part of “a trend that has been detected recently in several countries, where hunters equipped with sophisticated weaponry decimate the population of elephants”, according to the director-general of the CITES, John Scalon.
Elephants are coveted by the ivory of their tusks, which is changed not only money, but also by “weapons and ammunition intended for conflicts in neighbouring countries,” said the head of the Agency, under the UN.
Although the increase of the capture of elephants has been dramatic in Cameroon, the other 38 African States that have populations of these animals are also concerned.
“It has been reported that the elephants have been massacred by groups from Chad and Sudan in recent weeks, taking advantage of the dry season”, according to the information gathered by the CITES, which is headquartered in Geneva.
The Secretariat of the CITES indicated that it is in contact with the Ministry of forests and wild life of Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan to offer cooperation and helping to curb poaching and trafficking across borders. EFE
