The elephants were killed by camel-riding poachers in the south-west region of Chad, on the border with Cameroon, between Monday 13th and Friday 17th June. The Chad army was unable to prevent the killings.

The killings bring to at least 170 the number of elephants killed for their ivory in this region of the central African country in the past 12 months. It is estimated that Chad’s elephant population has decreased by about 40 per cent from 4,000 individuals in 2006 to around 2,500 in the most recent census in 2010, most commonly poached for their ivory.

Launching tomorrow (Saturday) with the slogan ‘Meet Us Don’t Eat Us’, the project by IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare www.ifaw.org) and the Icelandic Whale Watching Association (Icewhale), encourages tourists to enjoy whales in the wild on whale watching trips, rather than sampling whale meat in restaurants.

“Over the past two decades, the number of African lions has declined by nearly 50 percent. Today, fewer than 40,000 lions remain in just a few countries with only a third of those lions living in viable, protected populations,” said Adam Roberts, executive vice president for Born Free USA. “We urge the U.S. to take action before it’s too late to save this iconic species.”

The storm system that plowed through the South last week spawned some of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history and caused widespread flooding in the region. Many weather forecasts are predicting increased rain and floods in the coming days across the Southeast and Midwest.

In Tennessee, the human death toll has risen to 36, and more than 200 people remain in shelters.

An emergency mega-shelter for animals, donated by Belz Enterprises, is being set up in a warehouse on Shelby Oaks Road in Memphis and will be expected to house around 1,000 animals.

Currently, there is limited information available for decontamination and/or treatment of animals affected by radiation, nor is there any standards established for determining when an animal has been exposed to an unsafe level of radiation. Little is known about the survivability of wildlife and pets – or the viability of farm animals – exposed to radiation.