Nearly 40 endangered forest elephants were recently killed by heavily armed poachers in two national parks, as officials in Cameroon informed on Tuesday, March 26. According to the words of the ecologist Theophile Mbarga, "the carcasses are still fresh, indicating the killings took place probably only this month." The losses can reach 50 after a thorough search. The carcasses of very young, even newborn elephants were among found ones in Nki and Lobeke national parks.

As the conservation group WWF project manager Zacharie Nzooh told journalists, the poachers are considered to use powerful and modern weapons, as the dead elephants were found all closely clustered. The distances between bodies were about 35 feet.

All the evidences indicate that a horseback-riding band of about 300 poachers from Sudan was involved. It is behind the slaughter, according to the opinion of officials. The same poachers are considered to be responsible for numerous elephant deaths which count just hundreds over the past year.

Forest elephants, which suffered this time again, are distinguished from the more familiar savanna elephants. They are of smaller size and have straighter tusks. On the underground market in places such as China and Thailand a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of their ivory could be sold for hundreds of dollars. And that becomes a reason of death of the animals.

It was documented in a recent peer-reviewed study published at PLOS One that a "catastrophic" 62 percent decline in Central Africa's forest elephant population has happened over nine years. Officials also estimated that just 1,700 forest elephants remain in the two Cameroonian parks. Thus within seven years these unique animals cab be completely wiped out. According to WWF, formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund, the situation with Savanna elephants is not less serious. As today Savanna elephant population is just a few hundreds, when it used to be around 80,000 just 30 years ago.

The governments of three Central African nations which include Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Chad informed about their intention to protect the animals. On Saturday, March 23, they announced that as the Sudanese poachers are still active in the region, they would muster around 1,000 soldiers for joint military operations to protect the region's last remaining savanna elephants.

As the Economic Community of Central African States said in a joint statement, the governments "recommend the mobilization of all defense and security forces in the affected countries" in order to stop the poachers. The official statement was issued in the result of a three-day emergency anti-poaching ministerial conference, which took place in Cameroon's capital, Yaound©. The estimated cost of the operation is about $2.3 million.

According the information issued by WWF, on the night of March 14 to 15, poachers slaughtered about 89 elephants in southern Chad. They are also considered to be behind the killing of at least 30 elephants in the Central African Republic since January 1, 2013. And now the governments will do anything possible to protect animals and to punish poachers.