Zimbabwean authorities are seeking to raise 5 million U.S. dollars in boost patrol efforts after more than 100 elephants in the country's largest national park were killed by poachers who poisoned the waterholes.

The fund will come from business community and donors, initially from a charity dinner, organized by Wildlife Ecological Trust Fund, on Nov. 13, said Caroline Washaya-Moyo, spokesperson of Zimbabwe's National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

She told Xinhua in an interview that the money will be spent on purchasing equipment ranging from vehicles to a complete set of patrol kits for the 50 field rangers in the Hwange National Park.

Hwange, like all other national parks in Zimbabwe, is under- staffed and under-funded. Washaya-Moyo said the wildlife authority had not received adequate funding during the four-year lifespan of the inclusive government formed after the disputed 2008 polls.

More than 100 elephants were killed by poachers using cyanide in Hwange over the past two months, the worst poaching the country experienced since independence in 1980.

Twelve people, all impoverished local villagers, had been arrested. Three were handed hefty 16-year prison terms. But the authorities say they have not yet captured the ring-leader, allegedly a South African businessman.

Washaya-Moyo, meanwhile, applauded the appropriate sentences that are being passed to wildlife offenders.

In another development, two Zimbabweans were sentenced to nine years in prison after being found illegally having two small elephant tusks -- weighing 1.6 kilograms -- at home in Harare, the wildlife authority said in a statement.

Zimbabwe is home to about 10,000 elephants, one of the largest African elephant concentrations in the world. Endi

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