Chad Elephant Slaughter

http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0807-neme-chad-elephant-poaching.html
Elephant slaughter continues in Chad, another baby rescued
Laurel Neme, special to mongabay.com
August 07, 2012

Elephant poaching persists in southwestern Chad as poachers slaughtered more elephants on August 3, the second time in less than two weeks.
In the first attack, the week of July 23, poachers killed 34 elephants, including 29 in Chari Baguirmi near a village called Bram and five in Mayo Lemie near Nanguigoto. In the second attack on August 3, it appears at least 4 or 5 elephants were killed and 2 injured, including a mother with three calves. In addition, between five to ten baby elephants have been left alone in the bush. The exact numbers are unclear. Searching is difficult as poachers are still in the area, movement by truck is challenged by wet conditions, and thick vegetation limits aerial surveillance.

A team from
SOS Elephants is tracking the injured mother and plan to operate on her leg to extract a bullet once the area is secured. At that time, they will also assess whether she has enough milk for the calves.

Elephants near the camp run by SOS Elephants. Photo courtesy of SOS Elephants (Stephanie Vergniault)

So far, the team has rescued one elephant calf, sleeping with the baby in the bush before leading him back to camp. They continue to search for others because infant elephants cannot survive long without their mothers. Young elephants are physically and emotionally dependent on their mothers for three to five years. They rely on their mother’s milk for their nutrition until age two, and are not fully weaned until five or six years old.

The team also is monitoring the status of “Toto”, a 3-week-old male elephant rescued by the wildlife organization following the July 24 massacre. A neighboring herd adopted Toto a few days after the rescue, and a foster mother is now feeding him milk. SOS Elephants confirms that neither Toto nor his substitute mother were in the August 3 poaching incident.

According to SOS Elephants, around 200 elephants live in the Chari-Baguirmi – Mayo Lemie area, which has no formal protected status. SOS Elephants monitors these elephants from their camp located in Mitau in Mayo Kebbi Est.

Over the last two weeks, elephants in this area have crossed the River Chari near the camp several times for hours searching for a safe place. This is unusual behavior for the elephants. Normally at this time of year, they avoid the rain and mud by hiding in the small forests around the River Chari and do not come out again until October.


'Toto', a 3-week-old male elephant rescued by SOS Elephants. Photo courtesy of SOS Elephants (Stephanie Vergniault)
The perpetrators remain at large despite a large government search party of 200 soldiers. It appears the poachers are heavily armed and have accomplices among the local population. Three days ago, the paramount chief, government soldiers and administrative authorities spent the day visiting villages near the forest where the latest poaching occurred and promised them an incentive to denounce the poachers. Environmental organizations working in the region, including the African wildlife law enforcement organization LAGA (The Last Great Ape Organization), the Wildlife Conservation Society, and African Parks Network, believe the most likely way of apprehending the poachers is through receiving information on their whereabouts from the local population, and are planning to offer a substantial reward.
SOS ELEPHANTS OF CHAD FB PAGE LINK FOR NEWS ON HOW THEY ARE TRYING TO HELP
https://www.facebook.com/groups/soselephants/#!/groups/soselephants/
WS

what is wrong with these poachers...

female elephants do not have tusks right,then why hunt them down??

usually they kill them for ivory,but what will be the purpose here..i dont understand


crazy people...cant imagine the situation of that calf without mother

i am glad for Toto to have a foster mother :) thanks to her

Thanks WS - i've been reading about this via FB and it is really sickening what is happening with poaching all over Africa at the moment.


Lai

Oh my, what do you say, reading that and looking at their FB page is just so upsetting, it really blows your mind and heart apart doesn't it. Poaching is just so barbaric and totally un-neccessary, it not only kills the adult elephants but also lots of calves as well. I really hope that people do come forward and give information about the poachers.

You are right Lai, so much poaching is going on it is devastating to so many species. This world really is becoming a madness and not a very nice place.

littlewid-x-

African female Elephants do have tusks Radhu, and they can have really big ones. If you look at the picture banner on the home page, the photo of the Elephant in the middle is Echo a famous Matriach from Amboseli who featured in a lot of TV programes, and you can see the size of her tusks. Sadly she died at over 60yrs of age, but she died of old age, and thats how it should be. These poor Elephants will never have that chance, and as the others say this is happening more, and more all over Africa, and will continue untill Governments stop paying lip service to stopping poaching, and start taking action
WS

thanks for the info WS, i didnt know cow elephant will have tusks...in our place i mean asian female elephants do not have tusks so i thought it would be the same with African elephants as well ....totally new info to me that for African elephants bull and cow elephants have tusks

i should say that is unfortunate otherwise they wouldn't have fallen prey to poachers

its too barbaric to kill those elephants particularly when they hav calf

and considering the fact that elephants jus like humans go through a lot of emotional trauma after they lose their loved ones to such mad people

now that all are aware government will take necessary actions to curb this cruelty right? hopefully !
not sure how long will humans take to realize their place on earth

I follow SOS on FB and am appalled at half of the things that go on. Thanks for raising SOS Elephants, Stephanie is amazing and does so much good works.

SM

From SOS Elephants of Chad's FB Page

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/soselephants/

WS