Six lions have been found dead in a park in Uganda, with wildlife officials saying that they might have been poisoned by animal traffickers.
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Some of the dead lions' body parts were missing when they were discovered in the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Eight vultures were also found dead near the dead lions, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) said in a statement it tweeted on Saturday.
Those details point "to possible poisoning of the lions by unknown people," the UWA said.
Queen Elizabeth park is popular with tourists hoping to see big mammals like lions, giraffes, elephants and hippos.
But lion poisoning has been rampant in the park, which straddles the border with the militia-plagued north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"Given that some of the body parts of the lions are missing, we cannot rule out illegal wildlife trafficking," the UWA statement read.
Tourism contributes more than 20 per cent of Uganda's exports.
Australian Associated Press
