Combat against Illegal Ivory Trade - violent and everlasting war in the Congo basin
2014/02/18
CNN released a series of reportage describing how local villages in the Republic of Congo had been involved in poaching elephants and illegal trading of ivories. The story highlights;
- A group of eco-guards track poachers in a park called Odzala, in the north west of the Congo, the size of Connecticut
- They uncover a canoe filled with elephant meat, a bloody ax
- Some guards are former poachers, who accepted amnesty and turned in weapons
- They and their families are often threatened by their neighbors, because of their anti-poaching activities.
The non-profit group African Parks -- which runs Odzala -- estimates that Central Africa has lost 62% of its forest elephant population in the last decade. This is due to the accelerating global illegal wildlife trade.
Read the article
One of the video clips (the third one, titled "Ivory demand fuels elephant poaching") also features a story of Lobeke National Park in the south east of Cameroon.
The rangers and staff of WWF in this footage are the ones with whom WWF Japan have been working in this past year and a half.
There is also an important link about illegal ivory trade at the end of the story; China crushes tons of confiscated ivory