When Humans And Animals Collide

WOULD you kindly allow me space in your newspaper to express my views regarding the conflicts between animals and people in the two north-eastern regions.

As we keep following events in this newspaper, so far quite a number of people have lost their lives this year alone due to wildlife incidents. From Nkurenkuru to Divundu within the Kavango River and from Nkongola to Kasika within the Cuando/Mashi/Linyati and the Zambezi rivers people are being killed by crocodiles.As I am writing this article around 20 communal farmers in the Linyanti constituency of the Caprivi region alone have lost their crops, my mother included.What is the Government’s stance towards compensating communal farmers whose properties or lives are destroyed by wildlife? I am seated in a hotel in India and talking to my mother in some rural village in the Caprivi Region, so thanks to the Government for enabling this connection to the people.But this test of creating a boundary between people and wildlife has not yet been passed.People in the East are experiencing floods and for those who harvested in the South and the West, the elephants have eaten their crops.Does this mean people should always continue to live the same nomadic lifestyle of fleeing their places during the rainy season and returning in winter? This is really a worrying trend.There is an old saying from a biology textbook which states that within the ecosystem, if one species is dominant among the others, it will eradicate the others through mass killings.Lennox Zamalek Via e-mailFrom Nkurenkuru to Divundu within the Kavango River and from Nkongola to Kasika within the Cuando/Mashi/Linyati and the Zambezi rivers people are being killed by crocodiles.As I am writing this article around 20 communal farmers in the Linyanti constituency of the Caprivi region alone have lost their crops, my mother included.What is the Government’s stance towards compensating communal farmers whose properties or lives are destroyed by wildlife? I am seated in a hotel in India and talking to my mother in some rural village in the Caprivi Region, so thanks to the Government for enabling this connection to the people.But this test of creating a boundary between people and wildlife has not yet been passed.People in the East are experiencing floods and for those who harvested in the South and the West, the elephants have eaten their crops.Does this mean people should always continue to live the same nomadic lifestyle of fleeing their places during the rainy season and returning in winter? This is really a worrying trend.There is an old saying from a biology textbook which states that within the ecosystem, if one species is dominant among the others, it will eradicate the others through mass killings.Lennox Zamalek Via e-mail