Cyanide poisoning kills 15 elephants in Amboseli, KWS confirms

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has confirmed that 15 elephants found dead in the Amboseli ecosystem were killed by cyanide poisoning, raising fresh concerns over the safety of one of Africa's most important elephant populations.

The elephants, ranging in age and sex, were found over the past month in Kimana Sanctuary, Kuku Ranch and other community lands between 15 and 30 kilometres from Amboseli National Park.

Most of the animals died outside the protected park, where elephants frequently move between conservation areas and neighbouring ranches.

KWS Director General Erustus Kanga said preliminary laboratory tests detected cyanide in tissue samples collected from the carcasses, with investigators believing the elephants ingested tomatoes contaminated with the toxic chemical.

"It is important to know the source of the toxin because cows, goats and sheep also graze in the same area," Kanga said, adding that there is currently no evidence the incident poses a risk to human health.

Veterinary teams collected tissue and environmental samples from the carcasses and submitted them for laboratory analysis.

KWS said investigations are continuing to establish how the cyanide contaminated the tomatoes and whether the poisoning was accidental or deliberate.

According to the wildlife agency, 10 of the elephants showed signs of partial paralysis before dying within one or two days, while five carcasses were too decomposed or had been scavenged to determine clinical symptoms. Most of the victims were females and calves, with only one adult bull among the confirmed deaths.

The deaths have sparked alarm because Amboseli is one of Africa's premier elephant strongholds and home to some of the continent's remaining "super tuskers," giant bull elephants whose tusks each weigh more than 45 kilograms.

Earlier this year, the ecosystem lost the famed super tusker Craig, who died of old age.

The area has also experienced other wildlife poisoning incidents, including the deaths of six lions and dozens of vultures.

Kenya is home to about 36,000 elephants, many of which roam freely between Amboseli National Park and surrounding community lands.