Elephant tramples woman to death

by Victoria Falls Bureau

2012 June 12 10:25:30 | 1669 Views

A sombre atmosphere gripped Victoria Falls town after a mother of three children from Mkhosana Township was on Sunday evening trampled to death by an elephant in a bushy area between Mkhosana and Chinotimba townships.

Matabeleland North Province police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Siphiwe Makonese confirmed the incident and said investigations were still in progress.

Neighbours and some relatives said the woman, Mrs Margret Mudenda, was trampled while coming from Busi bus terminus. She had gone to the terminus to give a parcel and school fees for her children to a bus crew whose bus left Victoria Falls for Binga early yesterday morning.

The neighbours said they last saw her as she left her lodgings at around 7:30pm headed for the bus terminus with her children's parcel.

They said she was staying alone as her husband works out of Victoria Falls.

"We last saw her yesterday when she was going to the bus terminus. That was the last time we saw here until this morning when her fractured body was discovered in the bushy area near Mkhosana Township.

"We suspect she was attacked by the elephant while on her way back home," said one of the neighbours on condition of anonymity.

When Chronicle news crew visited the scene, residents had gathered at the site where the woman's intestines, the liver and other body parts were strewn all over.

Some residents who are faint-hearted could not stomach the horrific sight and could be seen vomiting. Others said they were going to find it difficult to eat meat.

The ground where the woman's remains were had been flattened and the grass and small shrubs had been destroyed.

The visibly angry residents told Chronicle that herds of elephants were literally roaming the streets and bushy areas of Mkhosana area every evening making it dangerous for residents to move around.

The residents said they were not happy with the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, which they are accusing of failing to drive away the herds of elephants which they said had become a menace.

The residents said in the past each time elephants moved into residential areas, they called parks rangers who would come and fire bullets into the air to scare away the jumbos.

"Now they are no longer scared and what has worsened the situation is that the rangers are no longer responding to our calls. It is better to kill some elephants to scare others instead of just firing into the air. Now we have lost a sister who was coming from the bus station and it really pains us," said Mr Mike Ncube from Mkhosana Township.

An increasing elephant population is forcing the jumbos to leave the game parks and come into contact with people, leading to an economic and environmental crisis in some parts of Zimbabwe where some are calling for the culling of the elephants.

It is estimated that Zimbabwe has over 110 000 elephants yet its carrying capacity is between 45 000 and 50 000.

For communities living next to the wildlife reserves the increased numbers are proving dangerous as the elephants are destroying crops and at times killing people.

Elephant Tramples

Source: Victoria Falls Bureau