The civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo has devastated wildlife, killing off thousands of elephants, gorillas, and other endangered species, according to a report commissioned by the U.N. Security Council. The report said that soldiers have slaughtered elephants for their meat, as well as their tusks. In Garamba Park in northeastern Congo, nearly 4,000 out of 12,000 elephants were killed between 1995 and 1999. In the Kahuz-Biega zone, just two out of 350 elephant families remained last year. Conservation groups have said that the numbers of lowland gorillas living on the Congo-Rwanda border have dropped sharply since the fighting began.
