Love for meat land game park rangers in trouble

AN insatiable appetite for game meat has landed two Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe rangers in trouble after they were arrested for skinning a bush buck hit by a car and sharing the meat instead of alerting their superiors as is procedure.

Shepherd Mukombwe, 32, and Chrispen Tungwarara, 30, picked up the dead bush buck which had been hit by a car and skinned it before taking the meat to their homes at Zambezi Camp.

The duo was found in possession of a combined 5kg of the meat on Thursday last week, leading to their arrest.

Mukombwe and Tungwarara pleaded guilty to violating a section of the Parks and Wildlife Act when they appeared before Victoria Falls magistrate Sharon Rosemani yesterday.

The magistrate spared the two jail life, saying they had suffered enough embarrassment by their arrest in light of their jobs and position in society.  They were each fined $70.

The buck was valued at $1,000 and meat worth $167 was recovered.

In mitigation, the rangers told the court the bush buck had already been devoured by wild animals and they scavenged for a few remains because they had gone for two months without receiving their rations at work.