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Zimbabwe: Face to Face With Killer Lions




Folks in Nyamakate Resettlement Area in Hurungwe, Mashonaland West province, had until last week been living in fear - and a dusk-to-dawn "curfew" - after stray lions wreaked havoc in the area.

The matter is behind them now, albeit under dramatic tales and circumstances.

One of the problem felines was shot dead by a Hurungwe Rural District Council (HRDC) safari operator while a male member of the pride also died allegedly due to poisoning by a disgruntled villager.

The villager is understood to have lost some of his domestic animals to the marauding lions.

Between last month and last week, the resettlement area lost 15 head of cattle, 23 donkeys and several goats with one of the attacks on two cows belonging to one village head having occurred in broad daylight in the full glare of some villagers who helplessly watched the rogue animals feasting on the livestock.

Mr Fanuel Chinhamo (35), a Village Development Committee (VIDCO) chairperson for Kilo Village, last week retold his spine-chilling face-to-face encounter with the marauding lions as they attacked and killed two cows 600 metres from his homestead recently.

"I was in the company of my young brother scouting for poles to fix my tobacco barn when I came across the lions. It was around 3:30pm and I had my eyes busy on trees across the (Mashambanjiri) river where I knew I could get better poles. When I heard the erratic sounding of a cow bell I tried to investigate where it was coming from.

"Although the sound seemed to emanate from a cow grazing nearby I could not see any cow around.

"Of course, I never suspected that something was wrong until I cast my eyes on what at first appeared to be a rope being twitched.

"I carefully examined it and discovered that it was in fact the wagging tail of a huge male lion with its claws and teeth deep in the throat of a cow vainly kicking its legs in the air trying to break free.

"I also discovered that the erratic ringing of the bell was coming from the struggling cow," he said.

Mr Chinhamo said as he started moving backwards after having also alerted his young brother who had not then learnt of the development, the lion gazed at them before giving a short roar he still believes was meant to warn them against coming closer to its prey.

"I became so angry and never thought I was risking my life.

"I threw stones at the lion and started shouting on top of my voice to drive it away.

"Although it started moving away majestically, I all of a sudden became extremely terrified when I discovered that only 15 metres away from where the male lion had killed the cow were also two female lions feeding on another carcass of a cow," he continued.

Chinhamo said after running back home to alert other villagers, he managed to mobilise five other men with whom he later chased away the lions that had then completely feasted on one carcass.

Although the trick they employed of shouting at the lions, throwing stones and burning few tufts of grass to drive the lions away, seemed successful at first, Mr Chinhamo said the tactic proved very dangerous after the male lion charged at them and nearly attacked one of his companions.

"The trick proved dangerous although we eventually managed to drive them away.

"We managed to remove all the four legs from the lions' second kill which we later surrendered to the owner of the beasts who happened to be Mr Timothy Mugwese, the head of Sierra Village.

"Around 9pm on that same day we assisted a local safari operator in hunting and killing one female lion in the group," said Mr Chinhamo.

According to Romeo Village head, Mr Kingstone Masheedzanwa, hardly a week after the lions had killed the two beasts in Sierra Village, they pounced on two cows in his village during a single night resulting in the male lion being poisoned.

"The lion whose remains we are burning here today is believed to have been poisoned by one of the disgruntled people in this village.

"On that night, the pride, believed to consist of two lions then, also killed two beasts. They ate up one of the cows while they had to only remove the udder of the second cow.

"During the next night it is believed the lions came expecting to feed on the carcass where only a chunk of poisoned meat had been placed.

"The lion died about 40 metres away from the poisoned meat.

Magic potions

"While we waited for Campfire (Community Area Management for Indigenous Resources) and National Parks personnel to come here and give us further instructions on handling the poisoned lion, some people came here by night and removed portions of the lion's skin, its private parts, claws, mane and chunks of fatty meat from the thighs."

It is believed that n'angas use parts of the lion's body in the preparation of charms for instilling fear in others, especially by those in positions of authority.

"It is also believed that the skin is used to prepare charms that stop hallucinations in children including convulsions," said Mr Masheedzanwa.

Sierra Village head Mr Mugwese said the loss of his two beasts had dealt him a serious blow especially because they had been the only drought animals that he depended on for his agriculture.

"I was in the process of building a tobacco barn and they were the only animals I had for carrying bricks and water.

"Come rainy season, I don't have anywhere to start from.

"What irks me most is that my cattle were attacked in broad daylight unlike most cases that happened at night after the owners left their animals to roam free and wild," he lamanted.

Ward 7 Councillor, Mr Jealous Mateyesanwa, who presides over Nyamakate, said the straying of lions into the villages had become a major concern for the villagers although he blamed the villagers for not penning up their cattle at night.

"With the exception of Sierra Village head Mr Mugwese's two beasts that were killed in broad day light all the other 13 reported cases happened in the grazing areas away from cattle pens.

"People should pen their cattle at night since they know that we are in a camp-fire area prone to visits by these dangerous animals," he said.

HRDC chief executive officer Mr Joram Moyo said the coming of lions into the villages in Nyamakate was partly due to the villagers' own making.

Mr Moyo said the straying of the lions was caused by poachers who sometimes drove their cattle deeper into the game area resulting in lions trailing the beasts and coming straight into the villages.

"The scenario is a tricky one, we have some people who unleash their cattle deep into the game area so that they can poach animals under the pretext of searching for their cattle.

"We have had several cases where such people are arrested but getting off the hook after they claim that they were looking for their cattle.

"There are snares all over the game area. They also sometimes hunt with their dogs.

"One other bigger cause of the lions straying into the villages is that animals like kudu, buffaloes and zebras no longer exist in the game area due to massive poaching. What do you expect the lions to do?

"The other cause is that some greedy village heads in those areas have since conducted their own land distribution programmes that have seen some new homesteads mushrooming deeper into the game areas which must be exclusively game areas under safari operators," he said.

The most affected villages are Echo, Quebec, Kilo, Romeo, Sierra, India, Delta and Hotel.

I like the names of those villages :-)