HWANGE — A 40-year old Zimbabwean man was recently killed and eaten by a lion in Hwange, a district in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland North Province.
The deceased, Thomas Muputsa who worked for the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) was said to have disembarked from a car and was scheduled to attend a funeral wake of his father in the village in Dete area in Hwange.
According to official sources, the deceased whose few remains were discovered swarmed by a troop of vultures, had disembarked from the car in Dete area about one kilometer from his scheduled station when disaster struck in the early hours of the fateful day.
He (the deceased) was dropped from the car about one kilometer from his scheduled train station when disaster struck in the early hours of the fateful day.
“It is with great sorrow and deep sadness that a 40-year old man was killed by a lion in Hwange on Tuesday morning,” said Tinashe Farawo, spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZIMPARKS).
ZIMPARKS operates under Zimbabwe’s Act of Parliament, the Parks and Wildlife Act of 1975, managing one of the largest estates in the country, with a mandate to manage the entire wildlife population of Zimbabwe on private or communal lands.
Farawo said as ZIMPARKS they were yet to locate the lion that killed the former NRZ employee, which he said committed the tragic action at the border between the side of Hwange National Park which housed lions and a communal area where people resided.
If found, Farawo said the lion would either be shot and killed or confined to one of the protected zones in the National park.
The case of human-wildlife conflict has been on the rise in Zimbabwe over the past few years, with the country’s parks authorities saying since last year they recorded that 40 people lost their lives to wild animals, with crocodiles accounting for 25 deaths.