Several watchdog groups say in a new report that members of a militia run by the fugitive African warlord Joseph Kony are killing elephants across central Africa and selling their ivory to support Kony's struggling group.

The Enough Project and the Satellite Sentinel Project, among others, said in the report released Monday that the Lord's Resistance Army has turned to elephant poaching "as a means to sustain itself."

Facing pressure from U.S.-supported African troops tasked with eliminating its leaders, the LRA is now vastly diminished. The Ugandan military says the group has less than 500 active fighters. Many of them operate in Congo, where the LRA once used the poorly protected Garamba National Park as a safe haven.

The new report said Kony targets Garamba's elephants.