Three African countries - Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya - are taking up arms against elephant poachers, who have killed hundreds of elephants within the past few weeks.

Virunga National Park rangers with a member of the new Congohounds team set out to battle elephant poachers. [Virunga National Park]?

More than 100 government soldiers entered Cameroon's Bouba N'Djida National Park Thursday in a military offensive against elephant poachers to secure Cameroon's sovereign territory, the local people and the elephant population.

The action was taken in response to the killing of hundreds of savanna elephants in the northern Cameroon park over the past eight weeks.

Government authorities say heavily armed poachers have entered Cameroon's sovereign territory illegally across the park's border with Chad to obtain ivory.

The poachers, who are reportedly Arabic speakers travelling on horseback, are believed to be from Sudan. The tonnes of ivory stripped from the bodies of their victims is likely headed to Asian markets, says the global conservation group WWF, which has been working with the government to combat poaching.

The Cameroon government has been under pressure from the European Union, civil society and environmental groups, and members of the international and diplomatic community to take immediate action to stop the massacre of elephants and secure Cameroon's borders.

Lamine Sebogo, WWF's Africa elephant coordinator, says the remaining elephants in the country's northern region are key to the survival of the subspecies.

"The future of conservation of savanna elephants in Central Africa lies in Northern Cameroon. This area alone accounts for 95 percent of the population of savanna elephants in Cameroon, and around 80 percent of the total population of savanna elephants in all of Central Africa," said Sebogo.