Poison to blame for scavengers’ deaths

The use of poison by Africa’s poachers is killing large numbers of scavengers including vultures.

Hundreds of vultures in Namibia died after feeding on an elephant carcass that poachers had poisoned.

In Zimbabwe cyanide has been used to kill dozens of elephants for their ivory tusks while in Mozambique three lions died after eating bait infused with a crop pesticide.

The threat is compounded by the indiscriminate nature of poison, in which a single carcass can kill a range of animals, particularly scavengers.

This month, a continent-wide database was launched to gather data on wildlife poisoning and better understand a phenomenon widely documented in southern Africa, where a reported 70 lions have been fatally poisoned in the past 18 months.