Six lions and 74 vultures were found dead near a national park in southern Tanzania this week after they were poisoned to death, authorities said on Friday.
The country’s Permanent Secretary for Natural Resources and Tourism, Gaudence Milanzi confirmed the reports saying that herdsmen were responsible for the action.
“I can confirm that six lions were poisoned in the wildlife management area just outside of the Ruaha National Park. We are investigating this incident,” Milanzi said, Xinhua reports.
An investigation has been launched and one of the suspects arrested. Samples of the poisoned lions and vultures were taken to the laboratory to identify the type of poison used.
There has been an escalation on human-wildlife conflict in the country.
Conservationists described the latest mass poisoning of lions and endangered vultures as a “devastating scene” with the scavengers killed after eating a poisoned cattle carcass, the report said.
The lions are said to have been killed from poison after they were all found near a scavenged cattle carcass, the Ruaha Carnivore Project (RCP) said in a statement.
74 dead vultures were also found near where the lions had died. Four other sick vultures were taken to Ruaha Park for treatment where one died shortly after arrival.
Ruaha Carnivore Project which is monitoring Lion population in the country said that poisoning of animals is a common response to conflict.
In 2014, a herdsman near the Ikona Wildlife Management Area in Serengeti district in Mara region poisoned to death seven lions after they attacked his cows.
