July 10, (THEWILL) – Andrew Dunn, Country Director of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Nigeria, says elephants are almost becoming extinct in Nigeria.
Dunn, in a statement issued to newsmen in Lagos on Saturday, noted that Nigeria was home to hundreds of thousands of elephants who used to roam the country.
He said that less than 400 of these elephants were currently surviving because of poaching for their ivory and habitat loss.
“Elephants are on the verge of extinction in Nigeria”, Dunn said.
According to Dunn, all efforts to save Nigeria’s remaining elephants had led to the two-day engagement between the Federal Ministry of Environment, with the support of WCS, and Elephant Protection Initiative (EPI), in Abuja.
Dunn said: “Ten elephant sites were identified during the workshop, including three national parks, and participants produced a list of priority actions needed to save elephants at each site.
“Five of the sites identified are small and isolated, and have fewer than 50 elephants each. Unless urgent action is taken, they can be wiped out in less than 10 years.
“Despite the threats, it is not too late to save elephants from extinction in Nigeria, but significant resources and improved political support will be required.”
The environmentalist said that Nigeria had two different species of elephant: The Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) and the Savannah or Bush Elephant (Loxodonta Africana).
Dunn said, forest elephants are now classified as critically endangered, following an 86 percent population decline over the last 30 years.
He said that the Savannah elephant was now classified as endangered, with populations having decreased, at least, 60 percent over the last 50 years.
