PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF THE STATUS OF THE FOREST ELEPHANT IN ZAIRE

This paper describes the first ever survey of Zaire's forest elephants. Reconnaissance surveys were made of four large areas of forest, and information on other places was collected during discussions with people with long experience of the country. The vast forests of Zaire do not provide elephants with a safe refuge from poachers. Forest elephants have been dramatically affected by poaching for ivory. Once found throughout the forest zone, they have been eradicated from many areas and now occur in fragmented subpopulations. The remaining elephants may number only 64,000, having declined by as much as two-thirds. Even the remotest forests have been affected. The future of Zaire's forest elephants lies in a small number of well-protected national parks.