I had heard it was bad but after talking to an old friend and retired PH in Zim he was telling me the poisoning of licks is rampant. This is for the poaching of elephants, but doing as poachers do they are killing everything that "licks". He said it is all over not just in zim. The Governments are supplying the poachers with cyanide that is so unforgiving nothing stands a chance. It makes you wonder how much time is left until all there will be to hunt there are unemployed poachers and government officials. It is truly discusting.

dande_jack:

I wouldn't be so quick in blaming the Government for the supply of sodium cyanide.

Wherever gold is being mined is where you want to look and blame "poor house-keeping" at the mine site.
It goes without saying that it is a highly toxic substance and one needs to be more than just on the ball in handling it even though it comes in the form of pellets, readily available and supplied to the mines by the container loads.

The probable or more likely source would come from the waste deposits or "tailings" which are unguarded and at a distance from the processing plant.

quote:

Originally posted by fujotupu:
dande_jack:

I wouldn't be so quick in blaming the Government for the supply of sodium cyanide.

Wherever gold is being mined is where you want to look and blame "poor house-keeping" at the mine site.
It goes without saying that it is a highly toxic substance and one needs to be more than just on the ball in handling it even though it comes in the form of pellets, readily available and supplied to the mines by the container loads.

The probable or more likely source would come from the waste deposits or "tailings" which are unguarded and at a distance from the processing plant.

Unfortunately there are some untruths in this posting.

I agree that it would be wrong to accuse the "Government"of supplying the cyanide. Most probably it would be correct to say "criminals who are also high-ranking government officials supplied the cyanide!

By the time the "gold-depleted "waste" is pumped and deposited on the tailings dams[or 'slimes dams' if you wish] the toxicity level of the watery slurry is very low. It is then further very quickly further degraded by sunlight to really low levels of toxicity. So low indeed that animals can often [but not always] safely drink the tailings dam water! No poacher is going to carry the volumes of tailings dam return water needed to poison even one elephant!

What is usually true is that wherever such an illegal activity is so widespread and on such a grand scale, there is usually someone - or many someones - in high political circles involved! But to refer to such criminal individuals as "the Government" is to elevate them way beyond their status as just common criminals with high political status!

Just MHO!

I should have been more selective in my choice of words. Criminals who are also government officials is what I actually meant.