Suspected Zambian poachers abandon 172 kilograms of elephant tusks in Zimbabwe Oscar Nkala, The Global Dispatch August 24, 2018 See link <http://www.theglobaldispatch.com/suspected-zambian-poachers-abandon-172-kilograms-of-elephant-tusks-in-zimbabwe-97148/> for photo. A group of suspected Zambian poachers have abandoned 172 kilograms of elephant tusks following a skirmish with Zimbabwean game rangers inside the world-acclaimed Hwange National Park. The seizure was confirmed in a statement issued on August 14 by top Zimbabwean conservationist Trevor Lane of Bhejane Trust, a private voluntary organisation which works the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe (ZimParks). Bhejane Trust is based in the resort town of Victoria Falls. According to Lane, two game rangers encountered six suspected poachers in the Sinamatella zone to the north-west of Hwange National Park. “Two game rangers based in Sinamatella who were on patrol in the Inyantue area (of Sinamatella) encountered the tracks of a group of six suspected poachers. After tracking them for nearly 4 hours, they encountered the group resting. They opened fire, but unfortunately the whole group escaped. “However, all their kit and ivory was recovered. This included 13 elephant tusks weighing 172kg in total. It looks like three of these tusks were old and thus pick-ups. Therefore the group had shot 6 elephants on this trip. There was also a .375 rifle with ammunition, a Zambian cell phone, a Zambian identity document, various personal kit, dried elephant and buffalo meat and assorted medicines,” Lane said. The rhino and elephant conservation specialist said the fact that Zambian poachers are now trekking almost 200km into Zimbabwe to find animals to poach indicates that they have exhausted the big tuskers in the Sebungwe area in the Lower Zambezi. Zambian poachers use dug-out canoes to cross the Zambezi River when going for poaching missions into southern neighbors Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Lane said once back in Zambia, the poachers are safe because the Zambian Police Service does not cooperate with external requests for crack-downs on citizen cross-border wildlife crime syndicates. http://www.theglobaldispatch.com/suspected-zambian-poachers-abandon-172-kilograms-of-elephant-tusks-in-zimbabwe-97148/ ------------------------------------- This news service is provided by Save the Elephants. For further information on elephants please see Save the Elephants' web site at http://www.savetheelephants.org ------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Please note that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any news story. In addition, we do not endorse any of the views expressed therein. We simply try to represent fairly what is in the media on elephants. If a reader finds inaccuracies in an article, we are happy to circulate corrections, if these can be verified. -------------- *Recipients: You can manage your own subscriptions, including unsubscribing, subscribing, and changing your email address, all by clicking on the appropriate listserv link below. Also, if you feel you are receiving too many emails, you can sign up for the 'Daily Digest' option. Note that archived news stories are linked to at the top of each page.* African Elephant News: http://elephantnews.org/mailman/listinfo/african-elephant_elephantnews.org Asian Elephant News: http://elephantnews.org/mailman/listinfo/asian-elephant_elephantnews.org All Scientific Papers: http://elephantnews.org/mailman/listinfo/allpapers_elephantnews.org