At least 300 elephants poached by ivory hunters

Ivory poachers in Zimbabwe have killed an estimated 350 elephants in the past year, Knight Ridder news reported on Thursday. Describing what it called "the worst outbreak of ivory smuggling since the animals were taken off the world's endangered species list nearly three years ago", Knight Ridder said according to confidential documents it had obtained, the animals had been killed by poachers using AK-47 automatic rifles. "The gangs used axes or chain saws to hack off the elephants' ivory tusks," leaving the cracasses to rot. It said the poaching raids were detailed in a report still to be released by the Worldwide Fund for Nature. The survey was conducted last month by game rangers in low-flying aircraft. The rangers counted double the number of carcasses found in last year's survey of the Zambesi River valley.