2 people killed by elephant, crocodile

A 28 year old man has been killed by an elephant in Lupane while another was killed by a crocodile at Sebungwe Mouth near Siachilaba in Binga.

The late Sifelani Ncube was killed by elephants on Wednesday evening while he was monitoring the crops in his fields in Lupane.

It is believed that a herd of elephants caused havoc in the fields and villagers tried to chase them away without noticing that one of them had been left behind.

The elephant then attacked Ncube who died that night.

In Binga, a man who was catching fish from a makeshift canoe was killed by a crocodile.

Police are still investigating the two cases.

Meanwhile, the Saba community in Binga has discovered two more carcasses of hippos at Mlibizi River over the past two days and this brings to 14, the number of hippos that have been lost in the past two weeks.

One of the carcasses was discovered on Friday afternoon while the other was found late on Saturday.

Officers from the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, Environmental Management Agency (EMA), as well as the Veterinary Services Department have visited the area to take blood samples from the carcasses.

The cause of death for all the 14 hippos is still unknown but there are however fears that the animals might have consumed maize crop that could have been sprayed to eliminate pesticides.

There are also fears that there could be more deaths than those already reported by villagers, as some hippos might have died in areas that are in accessible and were immediately consumed by crocodiles.

The villagers are however consuming the meat despite the fact that the cause of the death remains unknown.

The carcasses were first spotted last month at a portion of Mlibizi which forms the push back part of the Zambezi River.