Poachers have begun using more subtle techniques to slaughter elephants in Zimbabwe, swapping rifles and machetes for industrial grade poison. Yesterday, a provincial courtconvicted three poachers on charges of using cyanide to kill scores of elephants in Zimbabwe's largest national park, sentencing each to at least 15 years in prison. Earlier this week, authorities confirmed that 87 elephants have been killed by cyanide in Hwange National Park, a total that includes the 41 poisoned animals discovered there earlier this month.
It's not entirely clear how the elephants were poisoned, though authorities believe poachers placed cyanide in areas where the animals are known to graze before seizing their valuable ivory tusks. Fifty-one tusks have been recovered thus far, officials told CNN, meaning that poachers may have escaped with more than 120. Investigations are ongoing, but officials believe the operation likely impacted other animals in the area, as well.
"Several other animals have also died, but we don't have the total number yet," Jerry Gotora, director of the Zimbabwe parks department, told AFP on Tuesday
.