Elephants Rebound in Uganda

After being nearly depleted under the rule of the late dictator Idi Amin, the number of elephants in Uganda's wildlife reserves and game parks have been growing steadily, the German Press Agency (DPA) recently reported. There are now an estimated 4,000-5,000 elephants in the east African country, up from about 2,000 in 1982. About 3,000 can be found in Uganda's popular Queen Elizabeth National Park.

In the 1960s, before Amin seized power, more than 30,000 elephants populated the country's thick forests. But that number quickly shrank as government security forces and lawless poachers hunted and killed the animals for ivory, the article says. Much of the surviving wildlife fled to unprotected lands in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

But since Amin's brutal regime ended, aggressive conservation efforts, political leaders' commitment to protect the elephants, and the work of skilled rangers in Uganda's 12 national parks and wildlife reserves have helped the great mammal steadily come back, experts told the press agency. The Uganda Wildlife Authority has also involved communities in its efforts to protect wildlife. As a result, hippo and buffalo populations are also growing.

Elephants and other large mammals are crucial to Uganda's fast-growing tourism industry, which contributed an estimated $500 million to Uganda's economy in 2007.

To read about AWF's efforts to conserve elephants, click here.