Wild animals wreak havoc

the communities.
Bikita district has a border of nearly 350 kilometres with the Save Valley Conservancy.
However, wild animals have been roaming freely into the adjacent communities as the electric fence used to provide a barrier has broken down.
The worst affected are villagers in Villages 1-31 in Bikita District where people were resettled soon after independence.
Bikita Rural District Council chief executive Mr Johnsen Mpamhadzi on Wednesday confirmed that wild animals were terrorising communities in the eastern parts of the district.
He said council had received complaints from villagers in Budzi, Ziki and Mabika communal lands.
“The situation is really bad at the moment because villagers are being terrorised by wild animals that are roaming freely from Save Valley Conservancy and killing their livestock in the case of lions while elephants have been destroying crops during the farming season.
“The perimeter fence that used to provide a barrier between the communities and the wildlife is not being maintained and the villagers are complaining.”
He said relations between villagers and conservancy members were severely strained because of the wild animals.
Mr Mpamhadzi said the conservancy operators cited a slump in business for their failure to maintain the perimeter fence.