The Department of National Parks and Wildlife has gunned down an elephant that recently killed a 71 old blind woman.

Principal Wildlife Police Officer under Sioma district, Joseph Nyambe says his office received alerts on escalating humans and animals conflict which has resulted into a loss of a life in the ward.

Speaking in an in an interview with ZANIS, Mr Nyambe said as a result a number of villagers have deserted their homes and camped in schools for fear of being attacked by the beasts.

“We received a call of the death of the old lady and the escalating conflict between humans and animals in Mambolomoka,” Mr Nyambe said.

“When we arrived in the ward, we confirmed that the situation in the villages was indeed out of control. People were displaced from their villages and camped at schools,” Mr Nyambe said.

While in the ward they received a call from Mulengwe village that the notorious elephant had returned and was causing chaos. 

Mr Nyambe said the officers went to the scene and fired some warning shots but the animal became more aggressive and started charging at them , which prompted officers to shoot it down.

“While in the ward we got a call from Mulengwa village that the animal had returned and was terrorizing them. We responded immediately, all efforts to warn the animal were futile as it became all aggressive and started attacking us. We gunned it down,” he said.

A process of opening an office was underway in Shang’ombo district to response to such emergencies.

Meanwhile, District Commissioner, Mubita Siyamana has thanked government for the quick response towards the situation by sending officers to control the situation. 

“I would like to appreciate government’s effort towards the situation by deploying six wildlife officers to control the situation in the ward.

“The human/animal conflict is a new phenomenon to our people and this is due to climate change,” Mr Siyamana said.

Elephants have been migrating and going into villages in search of food and water due to the drought being experienced in the district and some parts of the country.