That bust and the 22 elephant deaths this week come on the heels of park rangers finding in early October a kilo of cyanide in the park and seizing an undisclosed amount of ivory from Hwange park officials at the airport.
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Poaching is common in Zimbabwe’s game parks and elephants and rhino are the main targets for their tusks and horns, which are smuggled to eastern Asian countries.
“It’s a poacher’s dream”, said a chemical expert who spoke to CNN, noting that it is cheap, highly effective and silent, compared with other methods. It is believed the elephants were killed by poachers for their ivory tusks.
‘The rate at which we are losing animals to cyanide is alarming.
The independent Bhejane Trust confirmed the killings occurred in the Jambezi area, which is outside Hwange National Park.
No mention is made of how the cyanide found its way into the elephants-previous poisonings have been reportedly carried out via watering holes, and at least one attack involved poisoning oranges. “We are appealing to people in communities close to national parks to cooperate with authorities”.
Last month, the park lost 26 elephants in the Tsholotsho area and four others in Kariba through suspected poisoning.
Washaya-Moyo said the parks agency is hoping that trained dogs from South Africa and the deployment of drones will help tighten monitoring of the vast, wildlife-rich park.
Just days before this week’s latest poaching incident, authorities at Harare global Airport seized 173 kilograms (381 pounds) of ivory headed for Singapore.
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According to her, it is the first time in Zimbabwe that national park officials are arrested for involvement in smuggling.
