DAR ES SALAAM, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 elephants have been killed in Tanzania in the past three months in what the country's national parks watchdog has described as a new wave of poaching.
Allan Kijazi, conservation commissioner for the Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA), said Thursday that elephant's liver was touted as a cure for liver cancer, cervical cancer and ulcers by poachers recently.
"The resurfacing of poaching of elephants is worrying," Kijazi told a two-day workshop for editors and senior journalists in the capital, Dodoma. "We are doing all we can to stop it."
"No research has shown that an elephant liver can cure liver cancer, cervical cancer and ulcers," he said.
John Nyamhanga, TANAPA's assistant conservation commissioner for law enforcement and strategic security, said 10 of the elephants were killed between September and November along the Tarangire-Ngorongoro-Manyara ecosystem.
"The other two elephants were killed during the same period along the Ruaha-Rungwa ecosystem," Nyamhanga told Xinhua on the sideline of the workshop.
He said TANAPA has beefed up its efforts against the new wave of poaching. Enditem
