Courage Dutiro
The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) responsible for conserving the country’s wildlife has warned communities along Triangle-Ngundu road to practice caution following the sightings of stray lions at Renco turn-off.
Zimparks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo on July 5, 2022 said the reaction team is on the ground to track the spotted pride of lions.
“Zimparks reaction team is on the ground tracking a pride of lions at Renco turn-off with Triangle/Ngundu road about 15 km from Chisase village.
“We are encouraging communities to minimize movements at night and secure their livestock,” said Farawo.
He also said they are yet to figure out where the pride escaped from.
“We are still investigating to get to know where the lions are coming from,” said Farawo.
Human-wild conflict is a significant problem in the province; recently two elephants were shot by the Zimparks after causing havoc in Chiteni village under Chief Ndanga of Zaka.
In a bid to put human-wildlife conflict that is escalating in the country to a minimum rate, Gonarezhou National Park recently introduced a lion collar system.
The use of a satellite collar system will allow the responsible authorities to have enough time to pre-warn villagers of lions or elephants approaching their villages through monitoring the Global Positioning System (GPS) location on the collars.