Poachers have killed at least six elephants in just one day at Mago National Park in southern Ethiopia.
The park’s warden described the incident as a “massacre”.
The poachers used more than 30 bullets on just one elephant, Ganabu Balmy told the BBC.
All of the elephants were from the same group who were drinking at the Omo river when they were attacked.
They were found with their tusks missing.
Poaching is not normally seen at this scale in the area, according to Henock Seyoum, a travel journalist familiar with the park.
In the whole of last year authorities documented just 10 deaths, the Press Association news agency quotes the director for trafficking and control at the Wildlife Conservation Authority Daniel Pawlos as saying.