Elephants as Roadkill

What was once the remote heart of wild Africa has become an increasingly fragmented wilderness, crisscrossed with roads and swarming with human activity. The new roads that cut through the Congo Basin have spawned numerous human settlements and serve as direct conduits for loggers and poachers who come seeking the forest's bounty. For the little-known forest elephant, a native of the forests of west and central Africa, researchers are calling these roads highways of death.

A new study coordinated by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) observed that as encroachment into the forest increases, elephant numbers are plummeting, especially near roadways where ivory poachers travel. A booming illegal ivory trade to China and other countries is driving poaching in central Africa. In response to the new threat, elephants are retreating to the remote depths of national parks.

The researchers walked more than 3,700 miles in five countries, covering more than 26,000 square miles. They counted elephant dung to tally individuals as well as elephant carcasses left behind by poachers. The surveys were conducted under the auspices of MIKE (Monitoring of the Illegal Killing of Elephants), a program authorized by a resolution from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) to look at poaching trends. Forest elephants have not been previously studied on this scale since 1989, when their population was estimated at 170,000 individuals.

As per WCS biologist Dr. Stephen Blake, the study's lead author, "It is not the physical effect of the road that is the issue-forest elephants actually like roadside vegetation-but rather the fact that unmanaged roads bring people with guns and ammunition. They also become direct pipelines into pristine forest areas for both human settlement and distant bushmeat markets".

The study reinforced the importance of protected areas for elephants-in reserves with road access, incidences of poaching dropped off and the overall abundance of elephants increased dramatically. For example, in Gabon's Minkebe National Park and its buffer zone, the largest wilderness area remaining in the Congo Basin, an estimated 22,000 elephants may survive. Even in war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, protected areas are proving to be the last strongholds for elephants, despite decades of poaching.

To protect the forest elephants in their remaining strongholds, the researchers are urging a region-wide approach to halt the spread of poaching and the ivory trade itself, as well as to control settlement and range fragmentation linked to road development. The researchers also recommend that private logging and mining companies work to reduce illegal hunting in their concession areas, particularly those near protected areas.


Posted by: Kelly    Source