JOHANNESBURG, May 8, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - More than 120 endangered vultures died after eating an elephant carcass poisoned by suspected poachers in South Africa in one of the single largest such spiking in the region, wildlife officials said Thursday.

Another 84 vultures were evacuated by road and helicopter for treatment and monitoring after the poisoning in the Kruger National Park early this week, the park and Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) said in a statement.

"The scale of the tragedy is staggering: 123 vultures were found dead at the scene," the statement said.

The dead birds of prey included white-backed vultures, Cape vultures and a lappet-faced vulture, which are all listed as endangered or critically endangered species.

Poachers had laced the elephant carcass with highly toxic agrochemical pesticides in a method increasingly being used to target species such as vultures and lions, whose body parts are in demand for traditional medicine, the statement said.

It was the biggest single such poisoning since 2019 when more than 500 endangered vultures died in Botswana after eating elephants whose carcasses were poisoned by poachers, EWT birds of prey programme manager Gareth Tate told AFP.

Poachers who use poison either lace a dead animal with a toxin or snare one to use as bait, he said.

"We have seen a massive spike in poaching for lion parts, for which sometimes vultures are the unintended victims," Tate said.

In some cases birds of prey are "maliciously targeted" by poachers because they are natural sentinels and can give away the location of the poaching of other animals, he said.