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| Malilangwe |
Beatific
Gumbwanda
CHIREDZI
– A
team of wildlife scouts from Hippo Valley and Malilangwe Trust Conservancy are
tracking a large lion which strayed and is believed to be roaming somewhere in
Hippo Valley Game area, TellZim News can report.
The Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe
(THZ) Safety and Healthy Environment (SHE) recently issued an alert of the
stray wild cat.
The lion’s spoor were
first spotted on Friday in Hippo Valley’s section 20 and then to Dambalangwe
Hill as well as up to and around Gozonya Hill.
“Employees and the
community in general are all being warned on the presence of a large male lion
which has been sighted on the estates. The spoor of the lion was seen near Section
20 shed on Friday 12 June 2020. The lion travelled some distance going up to
Dambalangwe Hill as well as up to Gozonya Hill,” reads the alert.
The department also
warned people against venturing into the Hippo Valley Game area where the lion
is believed to be holed up.
“The Wildlife
Scouts continue to track the animal with an aim to drive it back to Malilangwe
or managing it before it causes any harm. The lion is still currently in the
game area of Hippo Valley Estates and people are safe as long as they do not
trespass into the game area,” further asserts the alert.
Hosts to the Big Five, Malilangwe
Trust Conservancy is considered one of the best, well-secured animal sanctuary
in Zimbabwe.
Hippo Valley Estates
also has well-trained scouts in its game reserves, where buffalos and other
animal species like kudus and impala are still found.
Last month, Berty
Chigwe, a 20-year-old man from Munyamana village in Rimbi, Ward 21 under Chief
Musikavanhu, was admitted to St Peter’s Mission Hospital after he was savagely
attacked by a lioness while working with others in a cotton field.
The people in parts of
Chipinge and Chiredzi districts are perpetually in conflict with wild animals
that often stray from Save Valley Conservancy and Gonarezhou National Park.
