AKIPRESS.COM - More than 500 endangered vultures died after eating three dead elephants whose carcasses were poisoned by poachers, the Botswana government said in a statement Thursday, CNN reports. 

The 537 vultures and two tawny eagles were found dead in one of the country's protected wildlife management areas (WMA) in the eastern Central District.

Among the animals killed were 468 white-backed vultures, 28 hooded vultures, 17 white-headed vultures, 14 lappet-faced vultures and 10 cape vultures.

All are classified as either endangered or critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.

"The poisoning was believed to have been caused by lacing of three poached elephant carcasses with a poisonous chemical which (leads) to significant mortality in vultures and eagles," the government statement on social media said.

A cape vulture spreads its wings as it flies low at the VulPro Vulture Rehabilitation Centre in South Africa on September 15, 2015.

The scavengers have posed a long-standing problem for illegal poachers, making the birds particularly vulnerable to poisoning, according to the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).

"As the birds flock to animal carcasses, they also give away sites of poachers' activities," the foundation said on its website.