Notorious Elephant Poacher Gets Jail
Monday, October 27th, 2008A notorious elephant poacher has received a five year jail sentence for killing eight elephants.
The poaching occurred in Korup National Park in south-west Cameroon, where Akah Job was found to be in possession of nine elephant tusks weighing about 8kg, elephant meat worth about 15kg, and eight elephant tails. Guns, cartridges and wire snares were also seized.
The poacher was caught by game guards of the Cameroon Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) supported by security officials from the gendarmerie, after a tip-off. But before they could catch him, they had to trek for two days to the remote village of Esukutan where the poacher was located.
The court trial was heard in the small town of Mundemba, which is the nearest town to Korup National Park.
WWF Welcomes the Sentence
WWF, the global conservation organization, welcomed the sentence, saying that it could provide a lifeline for wildlife in and around an African rainforest that survived the Ice Age.
“We welcome this new verdict and hope it will deter other poachers and their accomplices from decimating wildlife and above all protect rare and vital species from extinction for the benefit of the people around Korup National Park and mankind as a whole,” said Dr Martin Tchamba, Technical Manager, WWF-Cameroon.
About Korup National Park
The Korup National Park, which was established in 1986, is in western Cameroon and lies against the Nigerian border.
The park contains 1259 km² of tropical rainforest and is known for its high biological diversity, including more than 50 species of large mammals. The park also contains the largest number of species of trees in any African rainforest.
WWF say this about Korup National Park:
One reason for its importance is that it is in an area which remained rain forest throughout the drying-out periods during the Ice Age when icecap advance caused severe global cooling which caused much tropical rainforest to be replaced by semi-xerophytic scrub or savannah.