Menacing lions still not captured
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Tuesday August 22, 2017 17:05
The lions have killed livestock and are believed to number between five and 10.
The operation to capture the lions started last Thursday. The deputy director of Wildlife, Rexboy Mokandla told Mmegi that they failed to capture the lions even after they engaged teams, which included the veterinary officers, soldiers from Botswana Defence Force, officials from the Department of Wildlife together with a professional hunter from Charles Hill.
He said that their efforts to capture the lions did not bear any fruit since the beginning of their operation until on Sunday.
He added that on Sunday, they received a report that the lions allegedly killed a calf.
He said that they divided themselves into two teams and conducted an operation by tracking down the lion’s paws. He said that they managed to trace two lions after tracking down the paws in the wild through the help of trained dogs. Mokandla said that it became difficult to capture the lions because of the thick bushes surrounding the area. “The thick bushes where the lions were spotted made it difficult for us to shoot the lions. We were also hindered by poor network in order to effectively communicate during the operation to catch the lions,” he said.
Mokandla said on Sunday that their operation to catch the lions would continue on Monday (yesterday). He said that if they fail to capture the lions, they are going to employ other techniques like using a loud speaker to attract the lions. “We are going to hang a loud speaker on a tree and play a cassette of lions eating their prey. The unique sound produced will eventually attract the stray lions to the place,” he said. He added that they would also have a cage nearby with meat to trap the lions.
Mokandla said that if the techniques do not work they would move to another stage of engaging a helicopter to assist in catching the lions. He encouraged villagers, especially grass harvesters and livestock caretakers, to stay away from the wild as they might get killed by lions. He said that so far the livestock figures reported at Tutume Wildlife office indicate that the lions killed 13 adult cattle, five calves, three donkeys, and 20 goats along with one dog. Nkange village and surrounding areas have been experiencing human-wildlife conflict over the past years during this season.
In a recent interview with Mmegi, Kgosi Toteng Nzonga of Nkange village had said that the lions have been terrorising the area since mid-July. He said that the five lions or more are preying on domestic animals in the area triggering fear amongst locals. He said that the lions, which comprise of a male, a female and three cubs, have already killed 25 cows, six donkeys and 17 goats in a period of a month.
He indicated that the estimated amount of cows killed is P100,000, for goats are P10,200, and P6,000 for donkeys giving a total estimated cost of P116,200, which is a huge loss to the villagers. Nzonga was worried that the dreaded felines might attack school children during the day.
He added that the villagers are now even scared to walk during the night. He said that the situation has made it difficult for people to perform their duties outside their homesteads, especially those who harvest grass.