Lion killed in Chipinge..Picture

Manicaland: Zimbabwe Parks rangers set up a ‘blind’ and killed a 3-year-old lion at Bangwe in Chipinge recently after the big cat had killed a cow and goats in the area during the course of the week.

Mbuya Muruwa, an octogenarian, who lives alone, lost three goats to brazen attacks by the prowling lion last Thursday night. The previous day, Jairos Murepa, suffered some livestock losses owing to the lion’s attacks. National Parks officials were alerted and they quickly responded.

‘’Parks officers came and set up an ambush. They stayed in the goat pen until the wee hours of the morning. The lion came and advanced to within a metre of them. It went away briefly before they hit it with chilling accuracy. It ran for about a hundred metres and they only discovered that it had died when it was daybreak,’’ said a villager who refused to be named.

Lion attacks against livestock and people are very rare in Zimbabwe.

Lions usually stray into communities for prey due to human encroachment into their natural habitat.