Elephant with snare on tusks kills man

AN elephant with snare on its tusks last week went berserk and killed a villager at Mucheni Village in Binga after escaping from Lasbrom Game Park.

The jumbo is believed to have escaped from the game park in Binga after some poachers had trapped it using a snare. The elephant, enraged by the snare which induced a deep wound on its forehead, killed Patrick Muchimba at his homestead.

Villagers in Mucheni said the elephant attacked Muchimba in the middle of the night after he heard some noise and decided to wake up and check on the intruder in his homestead.

However, the jumbo immediately attacked and gored him in the back resulting in loss of blood. He died a few minutes later.

"Muchimba was attacked in the middle of the night when he attempted to find out what was making some noises around his yard," said a villager.

"When he walked out of the house, the elephant immediately charged on him and  he fell on the ground before it trampled and gored him in the back. He bled profusely and died before he was taken to the clinic."

The elephant also destroyed the granary where Muchimba attempted to escape to.

"The jumbo was a wounded and angry animal. People from around the community could testify by the way it made noises, trumpeting and destroying trees. It destroyed the granary in the process," he said.

It is alleged that game rangers were called the following morning and they traced the animal.

"Game rangers arrived in the morning and traced the elephant which they discovered in the surrounding areas," said a villager.

"The jumbo was put down and it was discovered that the animal had a snare on its tusks with a deep wound which showed that the jumbo could have been trapped for a long time."

He said a lot of people were at risk of attack if the animal was not killed.