(1 Oct 2013) At least 90 elephants have been killed for their tusks by poachers using cyanide poison in Hwange National Park, according to Zimbabwe's environment minister.
Savior Kasukuwere said hundreds of vultures and other predators feeding on the dead elephants in the park had also died.
Industrial cyanide, used in gold mining, was put in the park's remote salt pans frequented by elephants, in what the government says is the country's worst incidence of poaching.
At one of the affected sites, about 18 elephants died - the highest number found by rangers in one place.
Kasukuwere said incidences of poaching were on the increase in Zimbabwe and efforts were being made to try to curb it.
"What we are doing is basically containing the situation which has developed over the past month or so. Of course there have been incidences of poaching but the magnitude which we are witnessing today is much higher than what has occurred previously," said Kasukuwere.
Police have arrested nine alleged poachers after rangers tracked them to a cache of ivory hidden in the park.
Two of the poachers were given 16-year prison sentences by a court in Hwange last week.
Hwange National Park, which is home to an estimated 50,000 elephants, is the third largest nature reserve in Africa.
But it's clear that Zimbabwe's massive elephant population is now under threat from rampant poaching.
It's believed that the bulk of the poached ivory is sold to buyers of Asian origin.
Zimbabwe is currently under a nine-year CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) ivory trade moratorium and cannot legally export ivory. The moratorium expires in 2017.
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