ivory coast pilots novel elephant rescue

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_IVORY_COAST_ELEPHANT_RESCUE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-01-24-05-34-18

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) -- Conservationists are capturing and relocating elephants in Ivory Coast forced out of their traditional habitat by encroaching humans, in the first such operation attempted in Africa's forests.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare this week began tranquilizing elephants outside the western town of Daloa, then locking them in a crate for the 10-hour drive to Assagny National Park on the southern coast.

According to IFAW, the elephants were forced out of their original homes in Marahoue National Park by human migration possibly related to the West African country's 2010-11 postelection violence.

Ivory Coast has not conducted a recent census to determine how many forest elephants are left in the country, but conservationists estimate there are a few hundred. In Central Africa, their populations have been devastated by poaching in recent years.

Forest elephants are smaller than the savannah elephants found in Africa's eastern and southern regions. They have more oval-shaped ears and straighter tusks, and occupy dense forests stretching from Central African Republic to Liberia.