Poachers slaughter elephant in Mundemba

An elephant suspected to have been killed by poachers was found dead a few kilometres away from Korup National Park in Mundemba, Ndian Division, According to Forestry and Wildlife Delegate for Ndian Division, Delphine Erem Ikome, they got information from villagers last Tuesday, May 12 that a stench was coming out from the nearby bushes along Fabe Road.

The village farmers, suggesting that a big animal must have died, “We sent forestry technicians to the field to investigate. They followed the smell and located where it was coming from. An elephant had died and was in an advanced state of decomposition,” the delegate said.

Though the Forestry and Wildlife Delegate told the Cameroon Journal that investigations are ongoing to ascertain the cause of the death, there are pointers to the fact that the elephant must have been killed by poachers since the ivories and tusk had been removed.

“Apart from the tusk and ivories, the meat was left untouched and was in an advanced state of decomposition when we got there,” Erem Ikome said.

She added that the decaying elephant was found in an abandoned palm plantation, harbouring mangoes – popular food for elephants.

A stream is also not far from the area. The farmland is located some three kilometres away from Mundemba around Ikondokondo Village along Fabe Road.

Forestry officials hold that the elephant might have migrated from Korup National Park in search of food before meeting its waterloo.

The Delegate told Cameroon Journal that the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is putting in a lot to conserve biodiversity within the Korup Park and its environs.

The programme for the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in the South West Region is also carrying out conservation activities in the Korup, Takamanda, and Mount Cameroon Parks, including the Baya Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary.

Given that elephants attacked villagers in the past, the delegate said the minister authorised a scary exercise to keep elephants away from the population.

Though details of the elephant population in the region seem sketchy, the divisional delegate said there’s a project to identify elephant corridors so as to better conserve them.