Kenyan poachers kill one of Africa's oldest 'giant tusker' elephants

One of Africa's oldest "giant tusker" elephants has died in Kenya. A conservation group said that 50-year-old Satao II died in a suspected poaching incident.

The elephant was found dead near the Tsavo National Park border and it was believed he was killed by using a poisoned arrow.

Richard Moller of the Tsavo Trust said that soon after the recovery of Satao II's carcass during a routine aerial inspection of the national park in January, they held two suspected poachers with three bows and 12 poisoned arrows, as well as an AK47 rifle.

However, the death was only announced on Monday (6 March).

"Luckily, through the work we do with the Kenyan Wildlife Service, we were able to find the carcass before the poachers could recover the ivory," Moller was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

The two ivory tusks of the elephant weighed 51.5kg (113.5lbs) and 50.5kg, respectively.

The death of Satao II has left only 25 giant tusker elephants in the world, out of which 15 are in Kenya. Satao II was named after his predecessor Satao, who was killed with poisoned arrows in an ivory poaching attack in June 2014. He was 45 when he died.

"I am pretty gutted really. This particular elephant was one that was very approachable, one of those easy old boys to find. Many are the others are much more difficult to see.

"He has been through lots of droughts and probably other attempts at poaching," Moller was quoted as saying by the BBC.

The death of Satao II comes at a time when elephants' survival in Africa is in danger due to the extensive poaching activity.

According to a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the population of African elephants has just experienced its biggest decline in 25 years. The report added that at least 30,000 elephants are killed every year or 82 a day.