By Nokuthaba Dlamini
Victoria Falls residents have been cautioned to avoid walking at night after a leopard and its cubs killed a dog and domesticated ducks in the wee hours of Thursday.
The incident reportedly happened in the town’s low density areas along Courtney Selous street and Wood road.
Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) cluster manager Samson Chibaya told CITE that the rangers were on the ground monitoring the wild cats’ movements.
“We received a report this morning that it entered someone’s place of residence and killed a dog and some ducks so therefore we have sent some of our rangers to trace and capture it,”Chibaya said.
“Leopards are shy animals in nature so they prefer to prey at night and these are risky hours for residents, so we would like to encourage them to avoid walking at night especially in an area where it’s bushy,” he cautioned.
The alarm was raised by Adrian Read and Roger Parry on social media who reported that a female leopard attacked and killed their neighbour’s dog and ducks.
The two further reported that the leopard, together with its cubs had been active in the area for the past days.
“People in the area need to be aware and keep their dogs locked inside at night, as no doubt it will be back,”they cautioned.
“The dog was grabbed close to Darryl Tirrans (owner) suggesting it is not scared of people.”
Human-wildlife conflict cases have been on the rise in recent years in the resort town where several people have been killed, while others have been injured.
The recent incident involved a mentally disturbed man who was trampled to death by an elephant near National Railways of Zimbabwe station in July.
The elephant was tracked down the same day by Zimparks rangers and private game trackers before being gunned down.
Apart from leopards and elephants, buffalos, lions and baboons have also been reported as being a menace in the resort town.
