It’s a gruesome sight! This massive carcass is left by cruel illegal poachers after meeting their ends — hacking off the animal’s face for their much market-valued ivory tusks.
Herds of such slaughtered elephant are piling up on the borders of central Africa — one of the elephants’ last strongholds there — the Zakouma National Park of Chad, a disturbing new report says.
Recently spotted by a Wildlife Conservation Society biologist on a National Geographic Society funded expedition, here are some aerial photos of the elephant slaughter.
The remains of slaughtered elephants lie amidst the trees near Zakouma National Park in southeastern Chad.
The ‘Elephant Massacre’: In 2006 Fay and his team found only 3,020 animals in Zakouma National Park, suggesting that either a large herd was missed in the count.
A herd of elephants congregates at a water hole in Zakouma National Park.
A close view of an elephant carcass near Zakouma National Park shows that the face was removed-evidence that the animal was killed by poachers for its tusks.
During their August survey, Fay and his crew caught glimpses of horsemen who might have been responsible for the elephant massacre.