Oh I am just so sad — hearing the poaching numbers are up and not down is so very disheartening! How awful you had seen him just the day before!

Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting…what a horrific story, this poor poor elephant…God, what the hell is wrong with people??????

this was bad news indeed.

can anything be done to prevent the poaching in the future? or is this situation not controllable at this time?

Terribly sad news - it’s hard to watch this happening even from afar.

Very upsetting to hear and see this. It just seems there is no outside support for these elephants, what can be done?
How do a few people defend elephants over such a large area from “people” with no hesitation to inflict death upon animals and quite possible upon the humans trying to protect them.

There needs to be some sort of benefit of the elephants to the local people just as there is with the gorillas.

So sad news. Fortunately, you are there to care of our beautiful elephants and all wild life. Thank you very very much.

Horrible and utterly disgusting. Considering the type of weapons you mention, is it possible this elephant was killed so the poachers could sell the ivory for more weapons?

s.

Dear Andrea, I was thinking of your elephants just yesterday, wondering how they were doing…whether they had enough food and water. What behaviors they were exhibiting, you know. Who was traveling alone, etc. All the wonderful elephant stories. This is such a painful reminder, that their number one threat, is man. Just breaks my heart…and I know this is pure hell for you. So very sorry. God bless, my friend. Theresa

Sad, We humans are the worst living creatures in this world.

Sickening……..what pigs would do this?

Well, this is heart-wrenching news. Is this believed to be the product of an organzied poaching network moving into the area or merely a local opportunist taking advantage of your recent absence and a loud rain storm? The introduction of the AK-47 to the African continent by China & Russia is surely one of the great tragedies of the age. The true scale of suffering this weapon has caused both human and animal will never be known, but we can see a glimpse of it with each incident such as this. These weapons are almost solely responsible for the continuing, unfolding elephant holocaust and ecocide throughout the continent. I fear the worst. With Janjaweed to your North, Somali gangs to the East, DRC militias and rebels to your south, these pristine habitats are surrounded by anarchy and adversity. Even al-Qaeda is now said to be using poaching to fund its murderous human atrocities.
The food crisis is likely to aggravate the problem further by enticing impoverished locals to turn to bushmeat. I’m sure your group grapples with these issues and fears on a daily basis. I started following your blog last year. I was very excited to see what appeared to be a somewhat stable situation for forest elephants. This is the first time I have written. I often use the wildlifedirect website to educate my students about important conservation initiatives. They will be distressed to learn of this, but I will use it as an opportunity to teach them what we are up against and why the fight must continue. Perhaps we can muster a financial donation to help beef up patrols in your area. I will look into it with my students. Thank You so much for your commitment to protecting and securing a future for these animals. Please know we care and we are behind your efforts in both principle and spirit! Bless you and keep your head up. If not for the diligent commitment and work of you and the brave environmental rangers, these animals might already be gone forever. -TheTeach

Dear “Teach”, I take comfort in knowing of your work. You expressed yourself beautifully here. Thank you.

Dear Teach — How well put — guns - guns and more guns — they bring them up the rivers and thru the jungles to kill and abuse and torture wildlife - and humans too and how does anyone have the courage as those on this blog do to continue to fight this up-hill battle daily! I admire them in the greatest way I can imagine!

I am recently doing a project on the these elephants and it saddens me to see and hear these animals are being slaughtered for their tusks. I appreciate what you do!

Andrea,

This is indeed sad news and my condolences to you and your team. I was looking forward to another blog entry that had positive news and to be confronted with the harsh and dangerous conditions the elephants and yourselves face on a daily basis is eye opening. I can’t really say anything more then has already been said asides from thankyou for the effort to post up another blog entry regardless of it’s underlying emotional distress et al.

On a side note, Books on learning French have been acquired.
Luke.

Geez! This has been a bad week. I’m anxious to hear what’s happening in Dzanga at this point. I just learned that 17 elephants were poached in Virunga, DRC last Sunday. The good news is they got the poachers! But that doesn’t make me feel much better. That family is gone forever. We knew that the weakening of CITES ban on Ivory sales from southern African nations would cause this escalation of poaching in central African countries. They wouldn’t listen, preferring profit to preservation. Now the illict markets are opening up again. We’ve got central Africa’s forest elephants under siege in both Congo’s, CAR, and Cameroon, all the way west to Gabon. China’s (and other nation’s) presence building logging roads into these forests is just going to escalate the problem further for the elephants in these countries. Isolation in the impenetrable jungles is the best thing we and the elephants have got going for us. The increasing presence of exploitative foreign commercial interests with export access is an obvious danger, especially from countries with a strong tradition in ivory markets. Andrea, since I believe we can anticipate this threat, is there some way these nations and your teams there in Dzanga can prepare to head off such a calamity where you are? The government there can learn valuable lessons from the experiences of Kenya and Botswana where elephant poaching literally became a matter of life and death; not just for elephants, but for the poachers as well. As a result, some of the healthiest populations of savannah elephants, the survivors, remain in those countries. It would seem the gov’ts of central African nations need to place stringent controls on the foreign companies they will be inviting into their midst. Is their potential for a stronger emphasis on tourism in Dzanga? As for poachers, I strongly believe that eco-terrorists should be dealt with in the same way as any other form of terrorism. We just can’t afford an elephant holocaust in central Africa on the scale of what took place in the 70’s & 80’s in eastern and southern Africa. No species, no matter how advanced, and including human beings, has the right to eradicate an entire other species from existence! It may already be too late for Virunga in DRC. I read they only had 350 elephants left down from 70,000 before the civil war there. I can’t begin to wrap my mind around those figures.(from BBC I believe) Theresa and Wanda, thanks for your kind words earlier. Sorry to be so depressing everyone. I’ve really been in the dumps over these developments. I’m just venting and sharing in our “communal” sadness and frustration. It helps me to have connection with others who also feel so deeply about the welfare and future of these magnificent mammals! Keep the Faith! The future is not yet written! -TheTeach

Hi Teach, I’m terrified over what is happening in Virunga. Absolutely at my Witt’s end! More bad news…Botswana appears to begin culling their elephants very soon.

it is so sad