14 DAY TRIAL // About a week ago, the news that 28 elephants were brutally killed by poachers in Cameroon made headlines. Recent news says that, despite efforts to protect them, another 86 such elephants were recently slaughtered in Chad.
To make matters even worse, 33 of these animals were pregnant females, the conservationists and rangers who stumbled upon their bodies explain.
The killings allegedly took place over the course of just one week, which is why the International Fund for Animal Welfare is now referring to this incident as this year's worst of its kind.
“Elephants in central Africa continue to be under siege from unscrupulous poachers. The slaughter is evidence of the callous brutality demanded to feed the appetite of the ivory trade,” argued Céline Sissler-Bienvenu, a conservationist currently working with the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
As is the case with most (if not all) such slaughters, the 86 elephants were killed by poachers who wanted nothing more than to collect their tusks and later on sell them on the illegal market, Daily Mail reports.
Conservationists have thus far pointed out several times that slaughters of this magnitude can only be put an end to if the people now in the business of selling or buying ivory agree to no longer do so.
Thus, the people trying to safeguard the world's remaining elephants are quite convinced that the species can only escape extinction once the current demand for their tusks ceases to exist.
“The poaching of elephants for their ivory is an issue of global significance, and needs a global response if we are to turn the killing fields of central Africa into safe havens for elephants,” believes conservationist Jason Bell.
Furthermore, “This cannot happen in a vacuum. Ivory-consuming nations – notably China – have to make a concerted effort to reduce the demand for ivory in their own back yards. Otherwise, the battle to save elephants will be lost.”