Poached Elephant Found In Proposed Mak-Betchou Chimpanzee Sanctuary
The African Elephant, Black Rhinoceros, Scarlet Macau, Bengal Tiger and the Mountain Gorilla are the world’s most [poached] and trafficked wildlife in a multibillion-dollar illicit business, reports Time.
In 2012 alone, some 35.000 African Elephants were killed by poachers to supply the black market demand for tusks. So, the carcass of a decapitated elephant discovered in the Mak-Betchou Forest Block by an ERuDeF field guide was possibly one of the mammals killed for their tasks to furnish the world market with illicit ivory.
The field guide reported the discovery at the ERuDeF Field Office in Menji, Fontem, Lebialem Division in the South West Region on February 20, 2014.
According to the field guide, he was looking for rattan when he smelled something rotten but did not bother to investigate. A week after as he was returning to the community, the rotten smell was so strong that he went to check it out.
“To my surprise, it was dead elephant with the head chopped off minus its tusks,” said the field guide.
The elephant was killed in the northwestern part of the proposed Mak-Betchou Chimpanzee Sanctuary.
ERuDeF then dispatched a fact-finding mission to the scene, March 5 – 7, made up of the Chief of Post of Forestry and Wildlife for Fontem, ERuDeF staff and the field guide. Here is what they found: an adult elephant already in an advanced state of decomposition covered with soot and infested by maggots, flies and other insects.
ERuDeF Officer in charge of Wildlife and Protected Areas, Enokenwa Allen Tabi, said the killing of this elephant is a very bad sign.
“We found the carcass without the tusks. This implies that whoever killed the elephant was not looking for meat to feed his family. This could be the beginning of organized crime to search for tusks in the Mak-Betchou forest and immediate action must be taken to prevent subsequent killings," said Allen Tabi.
The Chief of Post for Forestry and Wildlife at the Divisional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife lamented the killing.
"The government is totally against the killing of elephants which play a very important ecological role, particularly in maintaining the diversity of flora and fauna. The Forestry law is very clear; elephants must not be killed! If the perpetrator is caught, he shall face the full arm of the law," said the Chief of Post.
He was, however, hopeful that the recent decision by the Ministry of Forestry with the technical assistance of ERuDeF to gazette the Mak-Betchou forest might provide a safer home for the elephants.
Elephants have a profound impact on their environment: they bush over trees creating clearing and grassland, dig for salt and disseminate seeds of many plants, creating a patchwork of many forest types and habitats for many other species. They thus, exert an influence over the age and structure of the flora and specific composition of fauna in their habitats.
The ecological relationships may have economic consequences. For instance, some tree species important to timber industry have large seeds that are disseminated mostly by elephants. If these animals disappear, the natural regeneration of these trees could be in jeopardy.
Elephants in Cameroon just like other wildlife species have suffered the effects of poaching which has greatly caused their population to dwindle in the last decade. In 2012, over 200 elephants were killed in the Boubadjida National Park in the North of Cameroon and elephants continue to be slaughtered in other parts of the country. This, therefore, calls for concerted efforts to protect the animals.
