The recent deaths of 15 elephants near a park in southern Kenya were likely caused by the animals ingesting pesticides used on tomato farms, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has said. On Tuesday, KWS announced it was investigating the deaths of the elephants from 24 June and 24 July in Amboseli. Benson Leyian, the CEO of Big Life Foundation, a conservation organisation that operates in the area surrounding Amboseli national park, said the elephant deaths were a cause for concern. “Thanks to decades of community-centred conservation, the Amboseli elephant population is one of the best protected in Africa, and elephant poaching has been virtually eliminated here. Aside from losses during periods of severe drought, we haven’t seen a cluster of elephant deaths like this for some time,” he said.