Kenya's Wildlife Service (KWS) on July 30 announced that 15 elephants found dead in the past month near Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya likely died after ingesting cyanide-laced pesticide used on adjacent tomato farms.
KWS Director General Erustus Kanga said analysis of samples taken from elephant carcasses revealed traces of cyanide, a toxic chemical compound used in agriculture to kill pests and as a disinfectant. Cyanide has also previously been used by poachers to poison elephants.
“Cyanide is an extremely toxic chemical. If an elephant ingests cyanide, it cannot survive more than one or two days,” Kanga told Citizen TV.
The deaths occurred in the Kimana Sanctuary and the Kuku Group Ranch area around Amboseli National Park, part of a 392-square-kilometer ecosystem that, together with neighboring reserves, is home to more than 1,600 elephants.
Kimana town is a major tomato-growing area where researchers from the Route to Food Initiative have previously documented the use of cyanide on crops.
Isaac Lekolool, KWS head of veterinary and capture services, said the stomach of one elephant from a herd roaming the Kimana Sanctuary contained “a lot of tomatoes,” suggesting possible poisoning from agricultural chemicals.
Kanga warned the impact could spread further as livestock may also consume feed from farms in the area. “We have goats, we have cattle there. If cyanide is truly present in the system, we will see a bigger impact,” he said.
Earlier on July 29, KWS announced an investigation into the deaths of elephants between June 24 and July 24 in Amboseli, with 10 of them showing signs of partial paralysis before death, and preliminary tests detecting a potential toxin.
Benson Leyian, executive director of the Big Life Foundation, a conservation organization operating around Amboseli National Park, expressed concern over the number of elephant deaths.
“Thanks to decades of community-centered conservation, the Amboseli elephant population is among the best protected in Africa, and elephant poaching here has been nearly eliminated. Apart from losses during severe droughts, we have not seen a cluster of elephant deaths like this for a long time,” he said.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) called the incident “deeply alarming,” saying “the loss of every elephant is significant — not only for the species, but for the health of the ecosystem and the communities that live alongside them.”
In the past, farmers and herders in Kenya have poisoned wildlife in retaliation for crop destruction and livestock losses. In Zimbabwe, poachers have also killed dozens of elephants by lacing water holes and salt licks with cyanide.
