14 Elephants Killed With Cyanide By Suspected Poachers
October 7th 2015
Nairobi, KENYA - Officials in Zimbabwe National Park have confirmed that 11 elephants have been poisoned with cyanide within Hwange National Park, the same location where Walter Palmer, an American dentist, killed Cecil the lion in July which resulted in an international uproar.
Cyanide was used to kill 14 elephants in north Zimbabwe since September 26th, according to the national wildlife agency and CNN. The park currently holds 53,000 elephants, twice the carrying capacity of the park.
One of the poached elephants did not have tusks and was only 3 months old.
Three other elephants were found poisoned in Matusadona National Park which is located in western Zimbabwe. Five suspects have been arrested as it has been determined that the elephants were poisoned deliberately, most likely with orange peels laced with the poison. Those in Hwange were poisoned using a salt lick spiked with cyanide.
"It is a horrible way to die," said Carel Verhoef, a longtime professional African guide who was interviewed by CNN from Cape Town, South Africa, referring to the fact that these elephants die of suffocation as cyanide impacts breathing and functionality.
"They reason and think and are identical to us," Dame Daphne Sheldrick (David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust) told CNN in an interview from her Kenyan home in July. "They mourn and grieve just like us. So they understand that poaching is a growing problem, they see death and destruction every day."
There are only around 400,000 elephants left in Africa, while an elephant dies every 15 minutes.
Source
These poachers just won't give up...sickening what they'll do for a few bucks.
