Zimbabwe: Rangers in shootout with elephant poachers

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Zimbabwe's wildlife authorities say rangers recovered 22 elephant tusks after a shootout with nearly a dozen suspected poachers.

National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokeswoman Caroline Washaya-Moyo said Wednesday that Zimbabwean rangers exchanged gunfire with Zambian poachers in the Zambezi National Park near the border of the two countries.

Washaya-Moyo said no one was killed in the Monday shootout and all 11 men escaped. She said the poachers were identified as Zambian because of the language they spoke. Rangers found ammunition and food at the poachers' campsite.

Last year poachers killed over 60 elephants with cyanide.

In another case, the state-owned Herald newspaper reported that a man accused of being part of a syndicate that killed four rhinos worth $500,000 appeared in court in the western city of Bulawayo.