Residents from the resort town of Victoria Falls breathed a huge sigh of relief after the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) on Sunday gunned down a lone bull elephant known for its month-long notoriety of terrorising people in the neighborhoods.
According to reports, the bull would stray into people’s yards in suburbs such as Chinotimba, Mkhosana and in low density areas where it would customarily destroy vegetables in gardens, including at the Victoria Falls Police Station.
The bull elephant which was increasingly becoming a threat to human lives, is said to have recently damaged some window panes at a house in the ‘CBZ Stands’.
“We have been deploying our teams for the past month in an effort to scare the bull away but all efforts failed as it seemed the elephant was not moved by any effort to drive it away. We were left with no option but to eliminate it in line with the Parks and Wildlife Act which allows us to do that,” ZimParks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo told state media.
Farawo said incidents of problem animals terrorising people are common in wildlife infested areas but in most cases the wild animals would go away after being driven out of human settlements by rangers.
Hwange West MP, Godfrey Dube said the killing of the bull elephant did not only relieve residents who were now living in fear of their lives, but provided meat to the residents, most of whom are financially incapacitated to buy beef in shops.
Dube said ‘we made sure (that) we were present with police to enforce social distancing as people came from as far as Chinotimba to queue for the meat.”
State Media
