Villagers of Bakingili on the flanks of Mt Fako in the Southwest region, Cameroon have slaughtered and shared an elephant found dead around their vicinity. The elephant was discovered dead along the Bakingili-Njonji area of the mount Cameroon national park on Thursday Jan 16,2025. Preliminary report according to Dr. Hans Etta,conservator of Limbe zoological center says the elephant died from a yet to be disclosed illness.
Despite warning from health experts on the dangers of eating such animal, the villagers went ahead to share what they described as “ Manna from the wild.”
Images from social media showed residents of Bakingili, one of the villages bordering the Mount Cameroon National Park in the Southwest Region, scrambling for meat from the elephant they discovered dead around their area.
Speaking to local media in Limbe, Dr. Etta Hans, who is the conservator of the Limbe Wildlife Center, warned people against consuming meat from dead animal.
“ It’s a health hazard eating such animals”, he said.
He also warned about the risk of conviction for those who could be caught with elephant meat.
Elephants have been classified as category A protected species in Cameroon since 2020, owing to ministerial decree N°0056/MINFOF of 01 April 2020, fixing the modalities for the classification of wildlife species in the country.
