Ivory Coast relocates forest elephants 'encroached on' by humans

Conservationists are capturing and relocating Ivory Coast elephants that were forced from their traditional habitat by encroaching humans.

It's the first such operation attempted in Africa's forests.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare has begun tranquillising elephants outside the western town of Daloa, locking them into crates, and sending them on the 10-hour drive to Assagny National Park on the southern coast.

The fund says the elephants were forced out of their original homes in Marahoue National Park by human movement, possibly related to the violence that hit the West African country after its elections in 2010. The violence lasted into 2011.

Ivory Coast has not conducted a recent census to determine how many forest elephants are left in the country, but conservationists estimate there are a few hundred. In Central Africa, the elephant populations have been devastated by poaching in recent years.

Forest elephants are smaller than the savannah elephants found in Africa's eastern and southern regions. They have more oval-shaped ears and straighter tusks, and live in dense forests stretching from Central African Republic to Liberia.