Posted on 10/21/2013 7:05:53 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Poachers kill 300 Zimbabwe elephants with cyanide
• Cyanide has been used to kill 300 elephants in Zimbabwe's biggest nature reserve - three times the original estimate - as new photos show the scale of the slaughter
Poachers in Zimbabwe have killed more than 300 elephants and countless other safari animals by cyanide poisoning, The Telegraph has learned.
The full extent of the devastation wreaked in Hwange, the country's largest national park, has been revealed by legitimate hunters who discovered what conservationists say is the worst single massacre in southern Africa for 25 years.
Pictures taken by the hunters, which have been obtained exclusively by The Telegraph, reveal horrific scenes. Parts of the national park, whose more accessible areas are visited by thousands of tourists each year, can be seen from the air to be littered with the deflated corpses of elephants, often with their young calves dead beside them, as well as those of other animals.
There is now deep concern that the use of cyanide – first revealed in July, but on a scale that has only now emerged – represents a new and particularly damaging technique in the already soaring poaching trade.
Zimbabwean authorities said that 90 animals were killed this way. But the hunters who captured these photographs say they have conducted a wider aerial survey and counted the corpses of more than 300.
Poachers killed the elephants over the past three months by lacing waterholes and salt licks with cyanide. Animals are drawn to them during the dry season in the already arid and remote south-eastern section of the 5,660-square mile park.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
‘’freaking bastards’’,<< Damn right. To be so depraved and heartless as to do something so cruel to such innocent and magnificent of God’s creatures. I tell you ‘’ Secret Agent Man’’ the world is never without evil to be sure, but what there was of good world has vanished. This new one scares the hell out of me.
“Cyanide”. Yeah, sure.
It was George Zimmerman, George Bush, Boy George
or the TEA Party, which only want to see elephants fail.
This is terrible. How awful.
While it might be gratifying on a visceral level to look into their eyes as I pushed my K-Bar through their rib cage... A cloud of pink and gray mist visible through the 9x at 500 yds works too... Damn I miss my old .308...why did I ever sell you?
Sickening bastards.
No. Are you thinking of strychnine?
My favorite creatures. The life of each one worth a thousand (allegedly) “human” poachers.
And don’t forget that the Chinese are the big users of ivory and are behind a huge percentage of poaching.
What a hideous end for such noble creatures. Such needless slaughter.
Truly heartbreaking. These creatures are magnificent.
A tragedy indeed. It seems to make bigger news than the common machete mass murders these savages perform on each other.
What’s even worse is that these water holes are probably the only water sources in the area and they remain poisoned....how do you keep future animals away from them?
The story seems to have more details now, and they’re details that will make you furious. These people are less than dirt..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.