Google – AFP,
15 October 2013
An African
elephant is pictured on November 19, 2012, in Hwange National
Park in Zimbabwe
(AFP/File, Martin Bureau)
|
Harare —
Zimbabwean wildlife authorities said Tuesday they had discovered another 10
elephant carcasses, bringing the number of the animals poisoned by cyanide for
their ivory to over 100 in the past month.
"Ten
elephant carcasses were recovered in Hwange (national park) the day before
yesterday (Sunday), two suspects were arrested and 14 pieces of ivory
recovered," said Caroline Washaya-Moyo, spokesperson for the parks and
wildlife authority.
In
mid-September the park reported 81 elephants had been killed, and Washaya-Moyo
said the discovery of the latest carcasses, and several others in between,
brought the figure to over 100.
Twelve
people have been arrested in recent weeks in connection with the killings,
three of whom were sentenced in September to at least 15 years in prison each.
The
magistrate also ordered them to pay $600,000 (440,000 euro) to the Zimbabwe
Wildlife and Parks Authority for killing the animals by the end of the year.
Authorities
have given villagers living around the park until the end of October to hand
over any cyanide they might have or risk arrest.
Traditional
leaders in Tsholotsho, a village bordering the park, pleaded with the
authorities to pardon the villagers saying they were driven by poverty to kill
the elephants and not by greed.
Just 50
rangers patrol the 14,650-square kilometre (5,660-square mile) park, and
wildlife authorities say 10 times that number are needed.
There are
more than 120,000 elephants roaming Zimbabwe's national parks.
Elephant
tusks and other body parts are prized in Asia and the Middle East for
ornaments, as talismans, and for use in traditional medicine.
The
international trade in ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since
1989 after the population of African elephants dropped from millions in the
mid-20th century to just 600,000 by the end of the 1980s.
Wildlife
expert estimate that the illegal international ivory trade is worth up to $10
billion a year.
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