Africa is home to some of the most distinguished and unique animal species throughout the world. Unfortunately, this feature comes with a great price. Because of the large diversity of animals that inhabit the continent, many of them are hunted for sport by poachers, which, in recent society, has sparked global debate and outrage.

One animal that is extremely popular for poachers to hunt is the elephant, which has led to concerns in that the species may experience endangerment in the future. While many poachers used traditional hunting tools in order to kill these creatures, a new way to kill elephants has become immensely popular amongst poachers.

According to the article “22 more elephants killed by cyanide in Zimbabwe,” written by Robyn Kriel and Briana Duggan, during this month alone, Zimbabwe has seen the killing of 100 elephants from poachers using cyanide to kill the animals, which ranged from adult elephants to infant elephants, indicated by tusks that were left behind where many of the elephant carcasses were found.

Although it is recently that the elephants were poisoned and killed, the article further reported that using the poison to kill elephants has been done previously, reporting that “recent cyanide poisonings aren’t the first in Zimbabwe, where the poison is common and is often stolen from gold mines. In 2013, around 300 elephants were killed with cyanide in Hwange National Park in a single incident.”

Cyanide has become the ideal hunting tool for the poachers of Africa to use, as, according to the article, cyanide is seen in the eyes of poachers as an extremely cheap and reliable source for hunting animals. Using cyanide to hunt elephants is also seen as a way for poachers to remain silent while hunting the animals. This brings two different advantages for the poachers, as using cyanide to kill elephants silently will not scare other animals away from the infected animal, and the silence that’s created by using cyanide allows poachers to go generally undetected by officials who attempt to stop the killing of innocent animals.

According to Caroline Washaya-Moyo, a spokeswoman for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, “Poachers know that the moment they pull a trigger, it’s easier for us to find them. So they use cyanide.”

Although the use of cyanide is primarily used for hunting elephants, the use of this chemical has the ability to hurt other species besides elephants. Because cyanide is an indiscriminate killer, if released to kill elephants it also affects other animals living in the area as well.

Additionally, using cyanide also affects the ecosystem of the area, contaminating water, trees and grass around the area, which can further deplete the area of both organic species, as well as animals around the area. The contamination caused by the cyanide is further increased by rain. Washaya-Moyo further stated that, “We need to go quickly and decontaminate the area. The rainy season is coming, so we need to move with speed.”

Some of the poachers that have killed the elephants in the area have been detained, as, according to the article, “authorities at Harare International Airport seized 173 kilograms (381 pounds) of ivory [what elephant tusks are made out of] headed for Singapore.”

This injustice just proves how far poachers will go to just get pure enjoyment out of killing creatures that are becoming more and more closer to being extremely endangered in the world.