Nairobi – All 15 elephants that died over the past month in southern Kenya apparently died of poisoning after eating tomatoes contaminated with cyanide, wildlife authorities said Wednesday.
The authorities did not detail whether they have a particular suspect for the contamination of tomatoes from farms neighboring the Amboseli National Park. This is not the first time farmers have been suspected of deliberately poisoning elephants to prevent them from eating their crops.
The park borders areas dedicated to agriculture and livestock raising.
Preliminary laboratory analyzes detected the presence of cyanide, said the director general of the Kenya Wildlife Service, Erustus Kanga. He explained that “cyanide is a highly toxic chemical, particularly to elephants.”
The Kenya Wildlife Service warned that the pollution could have wider consequences due to the presence of livestock in the area.
“In addition to the elephants and the wildlife that may be feeding in those fields, we have the local livestock. We have goats. We have the cattle that are there. Over time, if this is really what is in the system, then we are going to see a greater impact,” Kanga stressed.
Wildlife authorities indicated that the toxic substances found in the dead elephants do not pose an immediate threat to human health.
This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.