HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Fourteen elephants were poisoned by cyanide in Zimbabwe in three separate incidents, two years after poachers killed more than 200 elephants by poisoning, Zimbabwe’s National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said Tuesday.
Three elephants were killed in Matusadona National Park in the Kariba area in northern Zimbabwe and 11 more pachyderms were found dead in two different spots in Hwange National Park in western Zimbabwe over the past two weeks.
In all cases the elephants were killed by cyanide, according to kidney and liver samples from the dead elephants tested by the Biological Sciences Department, said parks spokeswoman Caroline Washaya Moyo.
In Kariba, poachers laced oranges with cyanide, she said, while in Hwange the poison was put on salt licks.
The ivory tusks had been cut off six elephants at one location in Hwange park but the other five elephants still had their tusks, suggesting the poachers were disrupted. The motive for the killings in Matusadona was not known.
There have been no arrests so far over the latest incidents, said Clement Munoriarwa, police commander for Mashonaland West province.
“We have had a number of poaching activities in the province, they are actually increasing each day,” said Munoriarwa on state television.
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