Villagers ‘Chase’ Stray Jumbos - by Helvy Tueumuna

From The New Era
April 29, 2009

ONYAANYA – A herd of elephant that strayed into Onyaanya in Oshikoto created a stir when the community regained its composure and chased after the lumbering beasts.

This prompted the Acting Regional Police Commander and the Chief Control Warden for the North to warn against the practice.

Acting Police Regional Commander Karel Theron expressed his disappointment over community members chasing after the dangerous animals when the police and Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) officials were busy driving the elephants back into Etosha from where they had strayed. The community “chased” the beasts and failed to heed warnings from the police to stay away from the retreating herd.

Theron said police were called to Onyaanya to help with the situation involving the 13 elephants that had escaped from Etosha National Park. He said with the help of the police helicopter that was sent down from Windhoek, the police and MET officials drove them back into Etosha.

“We drove them up to Omuntele village with the helicopter, and then the cars took over from there. We only managed to get them inside Etosha yesterday morning because when we arrived at Omuntele it was dark so we decided to leave them and came back for them yesterday morning,” he said.

“Some community members followed in cars and some of them were footing, running after the animals. But this behaviour can be fatal. It can be very bad if the elephants decide to turn and chase after the people. There will be loss of lives and they could also damage vehicles,” warned Theron.

The Chief Control Warden for the Northern Regions Chrispin Mkokwena said the herd of seven elephant and four solitary elephants had recently escaped from Etosha.

Mkokwena said two elephants were found at Oshivelo while the other two were found between Oshivelo and Omuthiya and another herd at Onyaanya.

He said it is common for elephants to break the fence in search of good vegetation. This year alone four similar cases were reported and MET always managed to drive the animals back into the famed northern national park.

Mkokwena said driving elephants back to Etosha has never been a big problem but community members that chase after the animals are a big concern.

“Last year a man was killed by an elephant while the community was trying to take the law into their own hands. We are advising the community to stay away once they reported the matter to us. They should let us do our job because if a person happens to be killed, the blame will be shifted to the ministry,” he said.

Although no one was hurt this time around, some of the crop fields were destroyed.

Mkokwena said there are plans to electrify the fence around Etosha National Park.

“But elephants are known as the cleverest animals, they will always try to find a way to pass the electrified fence but we will try to minimise the incidents,” he said.