An African elephant is seen in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe.
An African elephant is pictured in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, November 18, 2012. The park hosts some 53,000 elephants, double its carrying capacity, and hunting is cited as a means of generating revenue for local populations.
MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images
Rangers discovered the carcasses of the elephants with their tusks removed in a forest last week, Violet Makoto, spokeswoman for Zimbabwe’s forestry commission, said Monday.
No arrests have been made, she said.
Makoto said the poison was laced on salt licks, a method now regularly used by poachers to kill elephants in Zimbabwe.
She says poachers killed four other elephants in the same area in February.
The wildlife-richcountry has battled cyanide poisoning of wildlife by poachers for the past three years. Poachers killed 62 elephants by that method in October.
Post published in: Agriculture