Cyanide poisoning and African elephant mortality in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe: a preliminary assessment

Hwange National Park (NP) is the largest national park in Zimbabwe. Covering 14,651 km2, it is located between 18°30′–19°50′S and 25°45′–27°30′E. Hwange NP is characterized by semi-arid conditions with an annual mean rainfall of about 634 mm (Hubbard and Haynes 2012). It has more than 100 mammal species, 19 of which are large herbivores and 8, large carnivores, and more than 400 bird species (ZPWMA 2012). Hwange NP is largely dominated and characterized by deep Kalahari sands (Rogers 1993) and has no perennial river system. Water-dependent animals rely on pumped water boreholes; the first boreholes were drilled in the 1930s (Mukwashi et al. 2012) and now over 80 boreholes are known to exist in the park. During 2013, media reports of elephant (Loxodonta africana) deaths in Hwange NP due to chemical poisoning sent shock waves across the conservation field. Media framing of the incident portrayed different figures of elephant deaths and manner of poisoning. For example, the headline of The Telegraph of 20 October 2013 read ‘Poachers kill 300 Zimbabwe elephants with cyanide’, the International Business Times of 21 October 2013 also reported more than 300 elephant deaths, while the Zimbabwe Standard of 20 October 2013 reported over 500 elephant deaths. Still others reported different figures. This article reports the first attempt at a rigorous and systematic study of chemical poisoning of wildlife in Hwange NP prompted by the 2013 cyanide poisoning of elephant and other animal species. The objectives of the study were to: 1) identify the species and quantify the animals affected by cyanide poisoning in Hwange NP and its environs, and 2) assess the opinions of Cyanide poisoning and African elephant mortality in Hwange