Elephants endangered by land grabs

WASHINGTON (AP) — Political and military elites are seizing protected areas in one of Africa’s last bastions for elephants, putting broad swaths of Zimbabwe at risk of becoming fronts for ivory poaching, according to a nonprofit research group’s report that examines government collusion in wildlife trafficking.

Zimbabwe has maintained robust elephant populations compared with other countries on the continent. But Zimbabwe’s economic decline has led Zimbabweans with ties to President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party to find new methods of making money. The report, released Monday, says they may be turning to elephants’ highly valued ivory tusks.