adminLeonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
A TEENAGE boy who was gored by a buffalo in Victoria Falls on Sunday and broke his jaws at two places cannot be immediately operated on since his face is swollen, his family has said. Fourteen-year-old Brendon Nkomazana’s aunt, Nyembezi Ndlovu, who is taking care of the boy at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo, said doctors diagnosed his jaws broke twice following the attack by the wounded lone bull.
He cannot be operated on while the broken jaws are still swollen, doctors told the family.
“Brendon is still in deep pain. A doctor attended to him today (Tuesday) and said he broke his jaws twice. The doctor said he has to remain in hospital until the swelling subsides as he cannot be operated on in that state. They said they can only bring the jaws back together once swelling subsides,” said Ndlovu.
Brendon’s mother is based in South Africa.
Ndlovu said the boy can hardly speak or eat because the neck and cheek are swollen while the jaws can’t move.
Brendon had gone to fetch firewood with his sister Vanessa and four neighbours in a bush near the railway line east of Chinotimba suburb on Sunday morning.
He mysteriously survived by lying still under tall grass as the wounded bull trampled the ground seeking to finish him off.
Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesperson, Caroline Washaya-Moyo, said the buffalo has since been shot dead.
She said the buffalo was dangerous as it also charged at rangers before they shot it.
“We confirm receiving a report that one person was injured by a buffalo on the eastern side of the Victoria Falls railway station. Immediately a team of four rangers was dispatched to attend to the scene and established that a boy by the name Brendon Nkomazama of Chinotimba suburb in Victoria Falls was admitted in hospital due to injuries sustained when the buffalo attacked him,” she said.
“Rangers who were sent to track down the buffalo managed to locate it around the same area where it had attacked the teenage boy. Upon noticing the presence of the rangers the buffalo tried to charge towards them and they shot it,” said Washaya-Moyo.
She said the buffalo was a solitary adult male
and had a deep wound on the right front leg shoulder.
Washaya-Moyo said the buffalo had
some blood on its horns probably from the injuries of the attacked boy.
She said Parks and Wildlife Management Authority will hold awareness campaign programmes aimed at educating communities that reside in wildlife infested areas to be vigilant.
Online Reporter