Ivory sea poacher have poisoned 14 elephant in two of Zimbabwe ’s national parkland . Over the past two weeks , three elephants have been pour down inMatusadona National Parkand 11 more inHwange National Park , the same park whereCecil the Leo was shotin July .
Autopsies on the elephants ' liver and kidney have shown all of the deaths were as a resultant role of nitril poisoning . The nitrile is think to have been placed in oranges in Matusadona and salt licks in Hwange . fit in toThe Guardian , cyanide is pronto available in Zimbabwe as it is used prolifically in its mining trade , helping toseparate metal from ore .
At Hwange , five elephants of the 11 elephants still had their tusks , suggesting that the poachers had take flight after being disrupt .
Experts estimate that70 % of ivory ends up in Chinawhere it is made into trinkets , decoration and cutter . The economic roaring China experienced prior to this year has created a immense market for off-white , create such a need that a pound sterling of ivory can betray for over $ 1,000 ( £ 650 ) .
effigy : Ivory with a street value of $ 4.5 million ( £ 3 million ) seized in Hong Kong in 2013 . Credit : IFAW / Flickr(CC BY - NC 2.0 )
Hwange internal Mungo Park has been the site for numerous poaching incidents . In 2013 it see the bad poaching massacre in southern Africa for 25 years when300 elephant were slaughtered there . The UNhas saidthat the number of elephants killed has doubled and illegal ivory craft has tripled in the last tenner .
“ We have had a figure of poach activities in the province – they are actually increase each mean solar day . Some are done through the use of firearms and , of course , we have cases where we suspect there is nitril poisoning , ” say local police force commanding officer Clement Munoriarwa to state television .
agree toDiscovery News , five suspects have already been arrest and theMatusadona Anti - Poaching Projectis offering a hard currency payoff for any data about the criminal offence .
primary paradigm credit : Bruce Monroe / Flickr . ( CC BY - SA 2.0 )
