The Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism shot a lion after it killed a cow in the Lianshulu area within the Balyerwa Conservancy on Saturday.
Ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda confirmed this on Monday, saying that officials received a report at around 21h00 that the lion caught and dragged a cow out of a kraal, despite various efforts by the cow’s owners to chase it away.
“We understand the owners tried to burn fire and chase it away with a car, but failed. When our officials arrived at the scene, they also tried to scare him away to not kill the cow.
“The lion appeared to be very hungry, and his resistance posed a danger to the community and our staff, given that this was happening at night. On that basis, we left the staff with no option but to shoot it,” he said.
Muyunda said the lion was handled by ministry officials after it was shot.
He explained that killing a problem-causing animal is provided for by laws and policies.
“It is a conservation strategy aimed at providing relief to communities that are affected by wild animals. It must be understood that putting an animal down is always the last resort.
“The danger with this lion was that it would have gotten accustomed to preying on people’s livestock if it wasn’t put down. To avoid that, we had to put it down,” he said.
Last month, the environment ministry put down another lion after it attacked Likando Mambena in the Chefuzwe area on the outskirts of Katima Mulilo.
Caption: A lion was shot after it attacked and killed a cow in the Lianshulu area on Saturday.
Photo: Contributed
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