Residents, prisoner maul elephant carcass
By DOREEN NAWA

Zambia Daily Mail-October 8, 2007

HUNDREDS of people among them prisoners last Tuesday mauled a carcass of an elephant shot dead by suspected poachers or members of the neighbourhoods threatened by rising numbers of the elephant population in Livingstone.

A check at the scene found people, mostly youths from Dambwa, Maloni, and Linda townships and nearby farms scrambling for free meat amid fierce fights to gain as much they could from the massive heap of meat.

The elephant was found dead a few metres away from a named farm between old Maramba Cultural Village and Vuma Filling station.

Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) officials said a bullet was in the carcass and two bullet wounds in the chest.

ZAWA officials found at the scene said the elephant was about 35 years old and weighing about 1600 kilograms. ZAWA secured the tusks and a trunk.

An eyewitness, Gladys Kasoka said she heard about the dead elephant around midday and rushed to the scene.

Ms Kasoka said elephants have been terrorising neighbourhoods and farms between the Victoria Falls and Livingstone city.

She said several reports have been made to ZAWA but no action has been taken to control the wild beasts, which have endangered people’s safety. People in the affected areas have since resorted to firing bullets to scare away the animals.

She said as much as the animals were appreciated, there was need for ZAWA to protect human life.

“ZAWA is aware about our problems with these animals. We always report to them but they do not do anything.

We also do not want to be killed or our property to be destroyed by the elephants that is why sometimes we use certain initiatives to protect our lives,†she said.

Recently elephants have been terrorising compounds, farms and lodges in Livingstone.

A month ago, a lone elephant destroyed property worth millions of Kwacha at Tongabezi Lodge forcing the owner to shift to Livingstone town.