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Zimbabwe: Boy (7) Killed By Stray Lion
5 APRIL 2014



A STRAY lion Friday attacked and killed a seven-year-old grade one pupil in the wildlife habitat of Hwange, the Department of Wildlife and Parks Management has reported.

"In the early hours of Friday, an old-male collared lion allegedly killed a seven year old boy who was reportedly on his way to a neighbour's homestead," Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesperson Caroline Washaya-Moyo said.

"From information gathered, the boy's body was dragged for over a 100 meters before being dumped in a thicket from where it was recovered by investigators."

According to Washaya-Moyo, the boy was a grade one pupil at Chezhou primary school in chief Bitu's area.

"Although we have his name, we cannot give you at the moment because his next of kin has not been notified," she said.

Game rangers who arrived at the scene after a report was made, trekked and killed the beast, hardly a hundred mitres where it had dumped the minor's body.

Washaya-Moyo said police in Hwange were notified and were now working with the wildlife authority in their investigations.

Cases of lions straying and attacking human are common in wildlife habitats of Zimbabwe.

In 2013, for months villagers in Masvingo's Bikita district lived in fear after a pride of five lions wreaked havoc in the area, killing livestock after straying from the Save Wildlife sanctuary in the lowveld. No human attacks were reported.

A man was in 2010 attacked by a lion while using an outside shower at a fishing camp near Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe's Zambezi basin.