Ivory poachers decimate Congo elephant population

reutuers ^ | 9/7/08 | By Joe Bavier

[Flavius]

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Poachers in Congo have killed a fifth of the elephants in Africa's oldest national park this year as China buys more ivory, the park's director said on Friday.

Rwandan rebels have killed seven Savannah elephants in the past 10 days alone in the Virunga National Park, along Congo's eastern border with Rwanda and Uganda, Emmanuel de Merode told Reuters

[Aria]

This makes me sick! These are intelligent magnificent animals.

[toothfairy86]

Please excuse the semantics police here, but when you say “decimate” it refers to 1 in 10 being killed. I guess these elephants would be better off being decimated rather than what really happened...one in 5 being killed.

[Loud Mime]

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/19/stop-killing-elephants-for-ivory

This site is socialistic and anti-bush, but they do have a petition!

[BreezyDog]

Can't the inhabitants of the Congo just decimate themselves like the inhabitants of our cities do here in this country.

Flame away...

[budwiesest]

as China buys more ivory,

Imagine the contribution to animal welfare in general if a way could be found to increase the size of the average Chinese penis.

Five words have threatened to put tigers, rhinos, etc. on the endangered species list: "Are you in yet, comrade?"

[Cvengr]

Just for that, have it your way,...it's Double Secret Pachyderm Decimation! ;^)

[randomhero97]

No flame here bro. I am in total agreement.

[Aria]

Thanks, I signed it.

[kitchen]

Some friends went on safari some years ago, hit it off with a land owner, and ended up staying almost a year. They got to do more shooting than even the most widely-read writers ever dreamed of, between providing meat for the staff and culling operations. The first thing the local game department people told them on arrival was , '... if you see a poacher, kill him.'

A few months later they were camped in the bush, near a steep bank overlooking a lake. The water was a border with a neighboring country that was suspected of being a source for a lot of the local poachers. Late one night they were awakened by the sound of paddles splashing and bumping the side of a boat. They grabbed their rifles and slipped up to the edge of the bank and spotted a canoe with a dozen men, looking for a place to land. They were apparently off course and paddled away. A few days later, when the game officials were told of this, they were pointed asked why they had not shot them!

To end this story, a few years later the ranch owner was killed by an elephant. The only thing that was recovered was some blood- and mud-stained clothing.

[diamond6]

This is a tragedy, I love elephants, they are magnificent creatures. I love the fact that they are family oriented and protect each other.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Please excuse the semantics police here, but when you say “decimate” it refers to 1 in 10 being killed."

Yes and no. You are correct in the sense that "decimation" was a means of group punishment originally conceived by the Romans as a means of enforcing discipline upon units who were overly lax, seditious, etc. and was carried out via the execution of every tenth man. In contemporary English it has been far more generalized to simply mean the killing or destruction of a large # or %.

I agree with you that I hate to see language become increasingly imprecise, but even the OED accepts the looser definition, suggesting that the "1 in 10" meaning is the esoteric bailiwick of traditionalists (like us.)

[Skywalk]

Seriously, what the ___ is with Chinese people killing off endangered species for some ridiculous folk remedy?!

A tiger’s unit is not an aphrodesiac, you savages (the ones engaged in it, not all Chinese.)

[LenS]

Sadly, ever since the Rwandan genocidal maniacs fled for fear into the Congo, the resulting wars have probably come close to reaching decimation levels.

[toothfairy86]

I’ve actually read that the use of Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, etc. is really making an impact in terms of saving the tigers, rhinos and other endangered animals in Asia.