More than 100 vultures poisoned after eating elephant carcass in South Africa
At least 123 vultures have died in South Africa's Kruger National Park after feeding on the carcass of an elephant. Poachers are suspected of poisoning the carcass with agricultural pesticides, park officials and an animal welfare group said.
Another 84 vultures were rescued from the site and transported by helicopter or ambulance to a recovery site, ABC News reported.
Illegal tradeThe mass poisoning is one of the worst ever to occur in the famous national park, according to SANParks, South Africa's national parks organisation.
The elephant was poisoned by poachers in a remote part of the vast park, where they were collecting elephant body parts for the illegal wildlife trade, SANParks said.
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“This horrific incident is part of a wider crisis unfolding in southern Africa: the increasing use of poisons in wildlife poaching,” SANParks and the Endangered Wildlife Trust said in their joint statement. “Poachers are increasingly using agricultural poisons to target valuable species.”
Many vulture species are threatened with extinction in Africa. Affected birds in Kruger Park include Cape vultures, endangered lappet-faced vultures and critically endangered white-backed and hooded vultures.
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