I have some sad news. We found the rotting corpse of an elephant in the park. The Rangers came across it when they were out on a 5-day patrol.

The elephant had been dead probably 1-2 weeks. Decomposition and discoloration of the skin was well underway.

The worst part is how the elephant died. We all know that traps and snares are a cruel way to kill wildlife. Often the wrong animals get caught - we hear how gorillas in the wild sometimes are missing a hand because they got caught in a snare intended for an antelope.

Often the very poachers who laid the snares fail to return to the scene quickly enough, and so the animal suffers a slow, solitary and painful death. And by the time the poacher gets there, the meat is no good anyway. So a total waste of a life.

In this case the elephant was caught by what we call a “jaw trap”.

The “jaw trap” is the one on the left - in several sizes. Here there is also other equipment and traps we have collected in the park recently - 49 metal necklaces for snaring antelope and waterbuck (far right), machetes to cut wood, hoes to cultivate illegally.

The elephant was caught in one of these “jaw traps”. The trap is opened and when the animal walks in the center the metal jaws slam shut. The trap itself is usually tied to a tree so that the animal cannot get away, even if it were able to move with a heavy metal object attached to its wounded leg.

If you look back at the photo you can actually see that the elephant’s leg was almost cut in two with the “jaw trap”. And that is certainly where decomposition started first.

The actual foot of the elephant is separated from the rest of the leg. You can also see the maggots.

This was a very sad day for all of us. The elephant could have taken up to 2 weeks to die.

When the Rangers first saw the dead elephant, there were many other elephants standing around the body. It was only when the decomposition started that the elephants left. They had finished mourning. And the Rangers were able to approach.

Then we took out the ivory tusks, and brought them to the station. We do not want poachers to get them.

The tusks will be kept by ICCN and used as evidence if and when we find the culprits.

We are still in mourning.

Atamato

Technorati : congo, drc, iccn, ishango, wildlifedirect

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