Death by Elephant. (30 August, 1996)

An elderly man from Samochima near Shakawe became the third person to be killed by an elephant this year when he was trampled to death while fetching firewood. On the evening of August 13 the man left home to fetch wood when an elephant charged and killed him. When the man didn't turn up back at home a search party of wildlife officers, police and villagers quickly set off to look for him. They later traced the elephant in the direction of Tsodilo hills, but regional wildlife warden Nkwane says up to now the animal has not been found.

In the last three years the number of reported cases involving 'problem elephants' in the North West has almost doubled. In 1993 there were 14 cases and one death, while so far this year there have been 27 cases and three deaths. In March a man was killed in the Sankoyo area after he leapt from a vehicle in fear of a group of elephants on the road. In June a woman from Mohembo in the Okavango District was trampled to death near her home while she was on her way to visit friends in a nearby homestead.

Just recently, a 78 year old woman narrowly escaped death when two elephants charged her at Kaputura in the Okavango. The elderly woman was out collecting firewood when two elephants charged and she threw herself on a pile of wood.

'That's how she survived,' says Nkwane. 'One elephant was very close to her while the other was madly running round looking for her until people came to her rescue.' He advises people to always seek the company of others, especially when traveling long distances. Nkwane also says people driving in areas where there are plenty of elephants shouldn't beep their horns as that 'makes them charge even more.'

Meanwhile, the South African newspaper Beeld reports that President Masire has appealed to governments to buy some of Botswana's elephants or they will have to be culled. According to a July 25 article, Masire said elephants have already destroyed lots of vegetation and are a hazard to people.

However, Steve Smit from the Front for Animal Liberation and Conservation of Nature opposes culling and says if Botswana is really worried about the well-being of its environment then it should look at the devastation caused by cattle. Meanwhile, Professor Wouter van Hoven says Botswana has 20 thousand elephants 'too many' and that some could be relocated to areas where they have been wiped out. The Professor is part of a team busy rehabilitating Quicama National Park in Angola where all the elephants were shot during the recently ended civil war. Courtesy of The Okavango Observer.