50% of Gabon elephants killed since 2004
2013-02-06 22:29
Libreville - More than half of Gabon's elephant
population has been killed by poachers since 2004 despite ramped up security
measures to try to stop the slaughter, wildlife officials said on Wednesday.
"More than 11 000 elephants have been killed since
2004," Fiona Maisels of the Wildlife Conservation Society said in a
statement.
Gabon, on the west coast of central Africa, is estimated
to host over half of the continent's 40 000 forest elephants but the animals
have long been targeted by poachers for their ivory.
Maisels said illegal hunting had slashed Africa's forest
elephant population by two thirds since 2004.
"Despite our efforts, we continue to lose elephants
every day. If we don't reverse the situation rapidly, the future for African
elephants is compromised," the head of Gabon's national parks agency Lee
White said in the same statement.
White said the parks had boosted staff numbers and
deployed both soldiers and security guards in their bid to stop the
"illegal slaughter”.
The illegal ivory trade is mostly fuelled by demand in
Asia and the Middle East, where elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns are used to
make ornaments and in traditional medicine.
"As the black market price for ivory rises every
year... the country is becoming the target for the worst species of poachers in
central Africa," the office of President Ali Bongo Ondimba said.
With rare exceptions, trade in elephant ivory has been
outlawed since 1989 after elephant populations in Africa dwindled from millions
in the mid-20th century to some 600 000 by the end of the 1980s.
Africa is now home to an estimated 472 000 elephants.
A kilogramme of ivory is currently estimated to be worth
around €1
500 on the Asian black market, the presidency said.
- SAPA
