African ivory poachers have slaughtered 68 elephants in two month using helicopters and chainsaws in a national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The elephants made up around four percent of the population in the 1,900 square mile Garamba National Park, which is the oldest in Africa.
According to AP, one group of poachers hunted the elephants from helicopters, shooting them with rifles before using chainsaws to remove their tusks for trinkets as well as their brains and genitals for use in Chinese medicines.
Poaching is a source of revenue for militant groups in the region, such as Jospeph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, who use money from the illegal sales to buy arms to continue their guerilla war.
