Poachers in Zimbabwe mixed cyanide with salt, and used it to contaminate pools where elephants go to drink – quietly killing 41 elephants. Once the elephants died, their tusks were cut off and taken away, while the elephants’ bodies were left to rot.

Park rangers discovered the poachers after hearing gunshots. When they arrived at the scene they were able to follow tracks back to the poachers’ storage space. Once police realized what they had stumbled upon, they convinced the man at the storage space to gather up his accomplices, which he did. They were all arrested.

17 tusks, worth R1.2 million were discovered.

The local chief inspector told a newspaper:

What they are doing is very cruel because it does not end in the death of the elephants. Animals that feed on the dead elephants will die and those that feed on these will also die [because cyanide stays in the system].

At least 25,000 elephants were killed in Africa last year, and the illegal ivory trade has doubled since 2007. While there seems to be a poaching problem in Tanzania and Zimbabwe, it hasn’t yet reached South Africa.

The acting co-ordinator and data analyst at Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants, Julian Blanc, said:

While poaching levels in Southern Africa are not as high as in other parts of the continent, they are steadily increasing.

[Source: Mail & Guardian]