Resident panic following lion scare in Hwange

Zim Now Writer

Residents of the coal mining town of Hwange panicked after reports that lions had been spotted in the town.

A half-eaten carcass of a cow had also been seen in the vicinity raising suspicions that it may have been killed and eaten by the large cats.

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority rangers responded to the distress call and discovered that there was no proof of lions in the vicinity.

Zimparks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo said investigations had shown that there were no lions that had invaded the town.

Farawo reiterated though the need for people to be on the lookout for their safety.

“It’s not true that there are lions in town. We have done our investigations and are showing that the cow might have been hit by a truck and hyenas fed on it. There is no evidence linking lions to that cow as there were only hyena spoors there,” he said.

Lions have been wreaking havoc, especially on Mabale in Hwange District where they reportedly killed dozens of cattle and goats since December last year.

Villagers have called for the setting up of village committees that should be trained to react to wild animal scares and alert the community so that they can find ways of driving them out.