South Africa: Man charges elephant

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A safari lodge company based in South Africa says a field guide who was filmed while charging on foot toward an elephant has been dismissed.

The announcement came after the online posting of a video that showed a man running at an elephant in a game reserve while his friends cheer and laugh. In the video, the elephant stands its ground, ears flapping, and then retreats.

The Singita company posted a statement on its Facebook page Monday, saying it investigated the video and has dismissed the guide who ran at the elephant. It says disciplinary measures are "in progress" against others involved in the incident.

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WWF: Seleka rebels from CAR invade elephant park

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The WWF said in a statement that suspected poachers belonging to the Seleka rebel group have entered one of Africa's most unique elephant habitats in the Central African Republic, and park guards saw them shooting in the direction of elephants.

According to the WWF, a group of 17 armed men who presented themselves as belonging to Central African Republic's transitional government, which is led by the Seleka rebels, entered the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park on Monday and headed for Dzanga Bai, known locally as the "village of elephants," a clearing where up to 200 elephants congregate every day.

Researchers in the park said they heard shots coming from the Bai. Also on Monday, two park guards saw the armed men inside the viewing tower shooting in the direction of the elephants.

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Central African Republic elephant poaching rises

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Elephant meat is flooding food markets in villages near a famed wildlife reserve in Central African Republic one month after rebels believed to be involved in poaching overthrew the government, conservationists said Thursday.

The Dzanga-Sangha reserve in the rainforests of southwestern Central African Republic has been home to more than 3,400 forest elephants and features a world-renowned clearing where dozens gather each day.

Now the political chaos unleashed by a rebellion that overthrew Central African Republic's president of a decade has enabled elephant poachers to further their slaughter.

"Elephant poaching is on the increase and given the fact that Central African Republic for the moment is also in dire straits we are fearing for the worst in terms of people trying to look seriously for ivory," said Bas Huijbregts, head of policy for WWF's campaign against poaching in Central Africa.

Elephant meat is now being openly sold not only in the town of Bayanga near the reserve, but also in surrounding villages near the protected wildlife area, which is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, he said.

"Given the total absence of any type of law enforcement and rule of law in the area, there is elephant meat all over the place," he said.

At least 40 elephants have been slain at Dzanga-Sangha since the rebels took power on March 24, said local residents, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the rebels operating in the area.

However, WWF said it was impossible to estimate how many animals may have been killed because there are currently no patrols going on in the forest to determine where the elephant carcasses may be.

Central African Republic's forest elephants have faced growing threats in recent years from Sudanese hunters on horseback who are making their way further and further south.

The poachers are used to killing elephants in savannah terrain though experts say they are increasingly adapting their methods to hunt elephants in the forest terrain of southern Central African Republic and in neighboring Cameroon.

The Sudanese hunters are now working in tandem with armed rebels from the group known as Seleka, which now has seized control of the federal government, anti-poaching rangers who have fled rebel-controlled areas told The Associated Press.

At least one notorious poacher has declared himself the local representative for Seleka.

Poachers are making greater inroads because of the near-anarchic state that has emerged in many parts of the country since President Francois Bozize was forced from power. Bozize, who himself took control in 2003 after a rebellion, fled into exile as thousands of armed rebels descended upon the capital in late March.

While their leader Michel Djotodia has been chosen to lead a transitional government, critics say he wields very little control over the rebels, who came together from several different groups with a common goal of ousting Bozize.

The rebels are blamed for rampant looting of hospitals and aid groups in the capital, and WWF said it has also had to evacuate its staff from the Dzanga-Sangha reserve after armed rebels looted their offices several times.

WWF said it is working with park staffers who have remained behind to try to secure the key areas inside the reserve despite threats to their personal safety. Those efforts may not be enough to protect elephants though if the situation continues to deteriorate.

"The worst case scenario that we could imagine," said Huijbregts of WWF, "is there would be no change in rule of law, and total anarchy would install itself."

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Associated Press writer Jose Richard Pouamba in Bangui, Central African Republic, contributed to this report.

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Online:

Dzanga Sangha Reserve: http://www.dzanga-sangha.org

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South Africa: Elephant handler trampled to death

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A handler at an elephant park in South Africa was trampled to death while taking elephants out for exercise, the park's owner said Tuesday.

The accident happened at around 7 a.m. Monday at the Elephant Sanctuary near Hartbeespoort Dam, west of Pretoria. About half an hour earlier on the same day, an elephant injured two tourists when it overturned their vehicle in Kruger National Park in the northeastern part of South Africa, according to park authorities.

Craig Saunders, owner of the elephant sanctuary, said the handler, who had been working with African elephants for four years, slipped off the back of an elephant that was engaging in "boisterous behavior" with another elephant.

The handler ended up in the midst of the altercation, which happened during an exercise program for the elephants that is closed to guests, according to Saunders. Paramedics arrived within 10 to 15 minutes but they were unable to revive the handler.

"It was a pure chance accident," Saunders said. "There was no maliciousness of any sort displayed by the elephants."

The name of the handler was being withheld pending notification of his family.

The website of the sanctuary says it offers elephant back-riding to guests and notes the "special relationship" between handlers and the elephants.

Saunders said sitting on the back of an elephant is a "normal management tool" for handlers.

The two tourists whose car was attacked by an elephant are doing "fine" even though the man had suffered broken ribs and the woman had back pain, said William Mabasa, a spokesman for Kruger park. The two were being transferred for medical treatment in Johannesburg, he said. The male tourist told authorities he is from Poland and currently lecturing at a university in Hong Kong.

Mabasa recalled a number of cases in which elephants overturned vehicles in the park, and that people in the vehicles failed to take simple precautions "in all these situations."

In Monday's encounter, he said, the couple did not take basic steps to get to a safe place.

"They decided to switch off the engine even when the elephant was charging," he said. "Why would you do that? Why don't you drive away?"

Bull elephants can be aggressive during periods when they are sexually aroused, according to Mabasa.

"Always keep a good distance," he advised. "That's the safest way to deal with elephants."

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