Poachers have slain six elephants including four calves in a private reserve in Kenya, according to wild life officials.
“Six elephants have been confirmed poached and two, female adults, tusks chopped off. Four others were all tuskless juvenile,” the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said in a statement.
“All carcasses had gunshot wounds,” said the state-run agency in charge of guarding Kenya´s world-famous national parks, adding that rangers were hunting for those responsible.
Since the start of the year, 65 elephants have been lost to poaching in Kenya according to figures from the KWS, which recorded 302 slayings for the whole of 2013.
The wildlife service estimates Kenya´s elephant population at 38,000 nationwide, and the number of rhinos at just over 1,000.
