US-Funded Armies Slaughtering Record Number of Elephants

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/09/04-0


Park rangers discover a poached elephant, stripped of ivory, deep in the park. Some recently poached elephants had been sexually mutilated, with their genitals or nipples cut off, possibly for sale — a phenomenon researchers say they had not encountered before. (Tyler Hicks/NYT)

The illegal elephant ivory trade is reaching record levels and “Africa is in the midst of an epic elephant slaughter,” reports the New York Times. As demand for elephant ivory grows in China, more and more poachers, including some of Africa’s most infamous armed groups, are killing elephants to cash in. Tens of thousands of elephants are being killed every year in Africa, conservationists say, as poachers kill them for nothing other than their tusks.

Armies including the Ugandan military, the Congolese Army, and South Sudan's military are also poaching using military helicopters to slaughter from above.

The U.S. and its taxpayer money is doing its part in making the helicopter slaughters possible:

'The American government has provided $250 million in nonlethal military assistance to South Sudan during the past several years. In May, the Garamba rangers said they had opened fire on four South Sudanese soldiers who had poached six elephant tusks. The rangers said they killed one soldier, though they did not seem to think too much about it. “I’ve killed too many people to count,” said Alexi Tamoasi, a veteran ranger.

But the suspected helicopter poaching is something new.

Mr. Onyango said the strange way the elephant carcasses were found, clumped in circles, with the calves in the middle for protection, was yet another sign that a helicopter had corralled them together because elephants usually scatter at the first shot.'

The Ugandan military has received tens of millions of dollars from the US to help its search for Joseph Kony, whose Lord's Resistance Army is also believed to be engaged in widespread poaching. "What bothers me is that it’s probably American taxpayer money paying for the jet fuel for the helicopter," says an American who works as a pilot in the park.

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[raouldukelives]

1. Probably decorating some hedge fund managers hunting lodge. nt

[lonestarnot]

2. kick