News / Regional
Hyenas wreaking havoc in Umguza District
09 Aug 2011 at 20:47hrs | Views
Villagers from Ward 10 in Umguza District in Matabeleland North are reported to be living in fear of losing their livestock to the hyenas.
According to villagers hyenas usually visit their community every year, but the rate at which they were killing animals was worrying. A total of 10 donkeys were killed last month. They said the hyenas were straying into human settlements especially at night and attack livestock.
The villagers said sometimes the hyenas attempted to kill livestock in pens. "These days there are a lot of hyenas around our area. Yesterday (Tuesday) my neighbour found his cow dead in the bush," said Mrs Sibongile Gumbo from Ward 10.
The villagers said they had informed the authorities about the problem but were not happy with the response. Although no comment could be obtained from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Authority as questions sent to them in writing had not been responded to, villagers said they now felt that reporting the issue would not solve anything, as authorities were doing nothing.
"We always report such problem animals to authorities but what is disappointing is that we are getting no response. At one point we reported to the National Parks and Wildlife Authority personnel and they told us that we should round up our animals. When we told them that the hyenas sometimes kill cattle in pens they said in that case we should kill them," said a villager.
A village head from the area, Mr Pios Dube said villagers were living in fear of losing their livestock. He said the situation was forcing them to round up livestock everyday, which he said was difficult because livestock graze extensively this dry season. Chief Deli confirmed that villagers had reported cases of livestock killed by wild animals.
Stray animals, especially elephants have wreaked havoc in Matabeleland North communities where they have destroyed homesteads and in some cases killed people. This has over the years left the drought prone region facing serious food shortages. On Monday the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Francis Nhema said there was no overpopulation of elephants but people had invaded the animals' space and started co-habiting with them.
Minister Nhema said people were encroaching into animals' space and the conflicts would only end if people keep to their land and leave animals in their space.
According to villagers hyenas usually visit their community every year, but the rate at which they were killing animals was worrying. A total of 10 donkeys were killed last month. They said the hyenas were straying into human settlements especially at night and attack livestock.
The villagers said sometimes the hyenas attempted to kill livestock in pens. "These days there are a lot of hyenas around our area. Yesterday (Tuesday) my neighbour found his cow dead in the bush," said Mrs Sibongile Gumbo from Ward 10.
The villagers said they had informed the authorities about the problem but were not happy with the response. Although no comment could be obtained from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Authority as questions sent to them in writing had not been responded to, villagers said they now felt that reporting the issue would not solve anything, as authorities were doing nothing.
"We always report such problem animals to authorities but what is disappointing is that we are getting no response. At one point we reported to the National Parks and Wildlife Authority personnel and they told us that we should round up our animals. When we told them that the hyenas sometimes kill cattle in pens they said in that case we should kill them," said a villager.
A village head from the area, Mr Pios Dube said villagers were living in fear of losing their livestock. He said the situation was forcing them to round up livestock everyday, which he said was difficult because livestock graze extensively this dry season. Chief Deli confirmed that villagers had reported cases of livestock killed by wild animals.
Stray animals, especially elephants have wreaked havoc in Matabeleland North communities where they have destroyed homesteads and in some cases killed people. This has over the years left the drought prone region facing serious food shortages. On Monday the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Francis Nhema said there was no overpopulation of elephants but people had invaded the animals' space and started co-habiting with them.
Minister Nhema said people were encroaching into animals' space and the conflicts would only end if people keep to their land and leave animals in their space.
Source - Chronicle
