ELEPHANT poachers have now become sophisticated to the extent of resorting to using poison to kill the jumbos, it has been learnt.
REPORT BY STAFF REPORTER
Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) public relations manager Caroline Washaya-Moyo said poachers had changed tactics and were now putting cyanide poison in water bodies and food for the elephants, killing jumbos in the process and other animals. In the past, poachers would hunt down elephants and shoot them for their tusks.
“Poachers have of late resorted to poaching elephants through the use of poison such as temick and cyanide,”
Washaya-Moyo said. “This unethical method tends to wipe out anything. The poison is either placed in water bodies and/or food.”
She said consequently, the authority was discouraging communities in wildlife areas from eating meat from animals they find dead. Two poachers were recently sentenced to two years in prison for poaching using poison to kill animals.
A Tsholotsho Magistrate sentenced Amos Dube (34), Dyke Ncube (51) and Samuel Mavundla (age not given) all from Tsholotsho to two years in prison for illegally hunting elephants using cyanide. They were further asked to pay $100 000 as restitution to Zimparks by December 2013. The trio had pleaded guilty to poaching.
After their arrest, the three were found in possession of ivory weighing 162,50kg valued at $55 787, 50, cyanide estimated to be 1,5kg and a leopard skin.
