CHIEF Dingani-Nelukoba of Mabale in Hwange District has said his subjects lost more than 20 cattle to marauding lions in the past two weeks as cases of human-wildlife conflict continue on an upward trend.
This comes after two cows belonging to a villager, who is the chief’s neighbour, were killed by a pride of lions on Sunday metres from the homestead.
There were seven lions in the pride and one of them was collared and is monitored by a lion research organisation in the Hwange National Park, according to Chief Dingane-Nelukoba who also lost four of his cattle that were killed by the predators last week.
“We have a serious challenge with lions and since last week they have been roaming around homesteads. There are two prides and one of them has cubs. Last week five cattle were killed in the bush. Two more were killed a few days later before my own four cattle were also killed near a small dam where they graze.
“It looks like human-wildlife conflict cases will be worse this year and if we count all the cattle killed so far within two weeks they are between 20 and 30,” said Chief Dingane-Nelukoba.
The Chief said if the trend continues, some villagers will lose all their cattle to lions.
Mabale is located on the edge of the Hwange National Park near Main Camp and is one of many communities that are close to game parks and endure conflict with wildlife.
Lions, elephants, hyenas and wild dogs are at the centre of the conflict.
Chief Dingane-Nelukoba said in their culture, a lion is sacred and his subjects know that it should not be killed but driven away.
About three years ago, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, working with wildlife conservation organisations and villagers, used a cage to capture a problem lion that had killed more than 30 goats and cattle within a few weeks.
The lion was kept at Mtshibi Camp in the Hwange National Park before being released back into the forest.
“The lions are collared and we would have expected the researchers to alert us about their presence so that we move our cattle to other areas before they are in danger. People have been herding their cattle in the forestry land because of lack of pastures elsewhere and this is where they areattacked.
“Now the lions are coming into villages and have been literally camped here in the past week. We want them to be driven away to save our livestock and even people from being attacked. In our culture we respect lions because there are some traditional rituals we perform using the lions so they are sacred to us hence we cannot kill them,” said Chief Dingane-Nelukoba.
Zimparks spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo said no formal report had been made about the attack on livestock.
He urged communities to quickly report any cases of human-wildlife cases so that rangers can attend tothem.
A fortnight ago two teenage herdboys Khulekani Ndlovu (16), and Njabulo Ncube narrowly survived when they were attacked by a lion that had attacked a cow from the herd they were herding in Chidobe area outside Victoria Falls.
Their employer Mr Shackson Ncube said the case was not reported to authorities for fear of being accused of trespassing into protected wildlife areas. – The Chronicle
