WWF and WCS ask that local authorities take immediate action against them

Apr 26, 2013 12:22 GMT  ·  By
Poachers said to have gone on a killing spree in the Central African Republic
   Poachers said to have gone on a killing spree in the Central African Republic

News from the Central African Republic says that poachers have recently gone on a killing spree in this part of the world.

Thus, conservationists say that a whopping number of elephants inhabiting the Dzanga-Sangha protected area have been killed by these hunters and that things stand to only go from bad to worse as the days go by.

Wishing to safeguard the 3,000 elephants believed to roam the Dzanga-Sangha nature reserve, both the World Wildlife Fund and the Wildlife Conservation Society have taken it upon themselves to issue a call for action.

Thus, the organizations have asked that local authorities deal with this threat to the Central African Republic's elephant population as soon as possible.

More so given the fact that, because of the severity of the situation, the aforementioned organizations were left with no choice except pull their staff and volunteers from these regions. Mongabay quotes the current Director General of the World Wildlife Fund, Jim Leape, who argued as follows:

“The elephant poaching crisis—driven by insatiable ivory demand—is so severe that no area is safe, not even the World Heritage Site Dzanga-Sangha where both WWF and WCS have now worked for the conservation of elephants for decades.”

“Heroic rangers are standing firm in the face of immense danger, but they alone cannot safeguard the special species and places the world treasures,” Jim Leape further stated.

Presently, neither conservationists nor local authorities are able to say how many elephants have been killed by these poachers. However, conservationists fear that the number is an extensive one.

By the looks of it, the local lack of law enforcement has made it possible for traders to sell elephant meat out in the open without their having to fear that they might get arrested.

Local officials are expected to meet next week and try to figure out a way of sorting out this issue.