adminSukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
THE Bulilima Rural District Council has engaged the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority in an attempt to curb the elephant invasions reported to have intensified in the area.This comes after the elephants were reported to be roaming close to homesteads.
The villagers recently accused the local authority of neglecting their reports.
In an interview, Bulilima RDC chief executive officer Mr John Brown Ncube said the invasions from the elephants had subsided but had become an uncontainable feature in the area.
“The situation has become better of late as the animals have withdrawn from roaming around homesteads but it is not to say the situation has normalised.
“These elephants migrate from Botswana and they come over to our area in search of water. They are also attracted by the melons which villagers have stocked in their homes, that is why they are seen close to homesteads,” he said.
Mr Ncube said the local authority did not have the capacity to contain the situation and had invited the parks.
“We have not received a report on the elephants attacking villagers and we want it to remain that way. The local authority does not have the capacity to deal with the situation and that is why we have engaged the parks people. Parks officials went on the ground to assess the situation and we are waiting for a feedback so that we decide on how best to contain the situation,” he said.
Just before schools closed for the second term holidays, pupils in some parts of Dombolefu Ward in Bulilima were reported to missing out on lessons as the elephant invasions in the area had intensified.
Parents said they had feared for the safety of their children as the elephants had moved closer to homesteads.
Online Reporter