Another 84 vultures were evacuated by road and helicopter for treatment and monitoring after the poisoning in the Kruger National Park early this week, the park and Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) said in a statement.
"The scale of the tragedy is staggering: 123 vultures were found dead at the scene," the statement said.
The dead birds of prey included white-backed vultures, Cape vultures and a lappet-faced vulture, which are all listed as endangered or critically endangered species.
Poachers had laced the elephant carcass with highly toxic agrochemical pesticides in a method increasingly being used to target species such as vultures and lions, whose body parts are in demand for traditional medicine, the statement said.
It was the biggest single such poisoning since 2019 when more than 500 endangered vultures died in Botswana after eating elephants whose carcasses were poisoned by poachers, EWT birds of prey programme manager Gareth Tate told AFP.
Poachers who use poison either lace a dead animal with a toxin or snare one to use as bait, he said.
"We have seen a massive spike in poaching for lion parts, for which sometimes vultures are the unintended victims," Tate said.
In some cases birds of prey are "maliciously targeted" by poachers because they are natural sentinels and can give away the location of the poaching of other animals, he said.
Three arrested in Japan over suitcases stuffed with hermit crabs
Tokyo (AFP) May 8, 2025 -
Three Chinese men were arrested in Japan after their rustling suitcases alerted hotel staff to the thousands of protected hermit crabs inside, police said Thursday.
A hotel worker in Amami City, on one of the archipelago's southwestern subtropical islands, reported the suspected crime to environmental authorities on Tuesday.
The guests "had asked the hotel to watch their suitcases, and the suitcases made a rustling noise", a police official told AFP.
When two of the three guests returned to the hotel, police asked them to reveal the contents of their luggage.
Inside the three suitcases police found around 95 kilogrammes (210 pounds) of spiral-shelled, protected hermit crabs.
These hermit crabs are from a group of species designated as "national natural monuments" because of their cultural and scientific value.
The third man was found to have 65 kilogrammes of the hermit crabs in another set of three suitcases, police said.
There were "thousands" of hermit crabs in their possession, the police spokesman added. Local media reported each of the hermit crabs can command up to 20,000 yen ($140).
The three men were arrested on Wednesday.
"Our investigation is ongoing to identify whether they had (the hermit crabs) to sell them or to keep them as pets or to eat them," he said.
"We are reviewing all possibilities."
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