A stray elephant has trampled to death a Serenje peasant farmer after he tried to chase it from his field.
The farmer of Mapepala area in Serenje district died after he was trampled on by the elephant on Sunday night.
Central Province Police Chief, Simon Mpande confirmed the incident to ZANIS in Kabwe today and named the deceased as Francis Kunda of Chief Chitambo’s area.
Mr. Mpande explained that the deceased had gone in the company of his friend named as Charles Chisenga of the same area to scare away three elephants which had strayed into his field at about 23 hours.
He said according to Chisenga, they tried to chase the animals by ringing bells and making other noises which made two of the elephants to run away but one charged at them.
Mr. Mpande said the angry elephant attacked Kunda ripping open his stomach hence killing him.
He said Kunda’s body was only recovered the following morning after Chisenga informed villagers that his friend did not return after the beast attack.
And Serenje District Commissioner, Stanley Chibwana who expressed shock at the incident said he would go to Mapepala area with Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) officers to assess the situation.
He also advised people in the area to always work with ZAWA officers when ever they were terrorised by wild animals.
Animals from the nearby Kasanka National Park in Serenje usually stray into Mapepala area.
ZANIS
Vyakulolavi ! How can you surely chase an elephant.M.H.S.RI.P:-?
Too bad for this ignorant peasant farmer M.H.S.R.I.P
# 1 meant-Vyakulolavi ! why should someone chase an elephant in such a way.Tho i have heard that some manages to do it by just making a hard facial scowl ,i stll feel his tactic was too lame.M.H.S.RI.P:((
#3, it is vyakulolafye or vyakulolasile! MHSRIP
With all due respect to the deceased, confronting 3 Elephants armed with jingle bells and acoustics is rather an act of suicide than bravery.
Umuntu vs insofu results into a human being turned into mincemeat :((
The Widelife Authority should have measures in place to compensate victims of wild animal attacks under such circumstances. Three elephants can sweep clean an acre of crop in a few hours, hence tempting the poor farmer to risk a chase. If there was compensation the poor farmer would have claimed damages from ZAWA rather than take a risk. After all, the Agric Extension Officer already has an idea of how much he would harvest following early warning assessments done. If cattle farmers are asked to compensate for crop damage, ZAWA should do the same using the same revenues they make from wildlife, for animal-man conflicts to be mitigated successfully.
A few months ago Zambia and Tanzania wanted to sell some of their stockpiles of ivory which Kenya and others worked hard to block. Elephants are a nuisance if not trimmed to reasonable numbers as they have a capability to seriously impact on crop output and threaten national food security. Our government made substantial efforts which would contribute to the migitigation of elephant impacts unfortunately the International community was not supportive.
We just need to use instant justice on these animals – not with bells and noises, but with real guns and ammunition. Never mind the ZAWA, they are not the ones losing their crops to crazy elephants. How sad to die in such a way, condolences to the family shua mwe!
The Wild animals have the right of way, sorry that this poor farmer has been finally killed after trying to chase these elephants.
MHSRIP….sad story indeed.imwe fi ZAWA re-distribute those elephants,when animals behave as such it means that they are over populated and food is becoming scarce in their Kasanka Park.OR kill some of them and share the meat among the locals.
I remember at one time our hot,cute,s.e.x.y tourism minister, wanted to sell some of them to outside Zambia,I think the best is to just slaughter a good number of the jumbos and give the meat to zedians.
# 11. Ba Mwine mushi – There is no guarantee that if those elephants are culled then the local people will benefit. Knowing Zambia, the meat would just end up at plot 1 and MMD cadres’ pots.