Man killed by lion identified

Chronicle Reporter
October 9, 2008



POLICE in Matabeleland South have identified the man believed to have been killed by a lion in Mangwe District last week.
The provincial police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Trust Ndlovu, said the man has been identified as Nelson Silaigwana of Three Streams Farm in Mangwe District. His age was not given.
Asst Insp Ndlovu said Silaigwana left his homestead on 30 September and told his neighbours that he was going to visit his girlfriend.
“Five days later, the neighbours started looking for him after realising that he had not returned home. They discovered the body on Sunday about one-and-a-half kilometres away and it was in an advanced state of decomposition,†said the police spokesperson.
“His clothes, full of blood stains, were scattered all over the place. Some of the body parts were missing and there were prints of a lion around where the body was.â€
A pride of lions escaped from a farm in the district last week where they were kept and went on to kill Silaigwana and seven cattle.
The lions broke out of the cage where they were kept at Sundowns Farm and strayed to a neighbouring farm, Three Streams.
Officials from the Mangwe Rural District Council and their colleagues from the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority were deployed to track the lions but failed.
The animals were only cornered and taken to their cages on Friday.
Meanwhile, the conservation officer for Mangwe RDC, Mr Irvin Ncube, said in an interview yesterday that farmers in the neighbouring farms are pressing for the animals to be put down.
“The farmers are arguing that since the animals have tasted human flesh they are now very dangerous. One of them was in my office this morning pressing for the animals to be put down,†said Mr Ncube.
“However, the owner of the lions does not want his animals to be killed. As far as we are concerned, that matter is between the concerned farmers and the owner who have to see that legal channels are taken to resolve the matter.â€
Mr Ncube also said there is another wild lion which has been roaming the district for about a year now.
The lion is said to have killed more than 20 cattle.
“Just two weeks ago, the lion killed five cattle at a farm in Marula, where there are newly resettled farmers. That lion is very difficult to corner because it strikes in one area and moves far away very quickly,†he said.
“We are now trying to engage hunters.â€