Crowded into parks by poachers, a lion attacks camper in Zimbabwe
| Cape Town, South Africa
The death of a camper mauled to death by lions at a Zimbabwe game park highlights the country鈥檚 poaching crisis, a leading conservationist said.
Johnny Rodrigues said illegal hunting of lions, as well as prey such as impala and bison, is 鈥榯raumatizing鈥� and forces those animals to encroach on public game parks, increasing the risk to humans.
Mr. Rodrigues, who is chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said, 鈥淧oaching is a big problem in Zimbabwe 鈥� not just by professional hunters after animals like lions, but also local people after buck (deer) or bison for food.
鈥淎 lot of animals are becoming traumatized by it. They鈥檙e becoming more aggressive and are coming into contact with humans whereas before, when there were plenty of animals they鈥檇 shy away from us. We鈥檙e turning these hunters into scavengers.鈥�
Businessman Peter Evershed, 59, was on holiday with his wife, brother-in-law and a friend at the Mana Pools National Park on the Zambezi River when he went to take an outside shower on Saturday night.
It is thought that a young male lion, followed by four other giant cats, attacked him while he was in the shower. By the time those traveling with him dashed to the shower, which was 125 feet from their tents, Mr. Evershed had suffered fatal neck injuries.
The Zimbabwean鈥檚 body was taken back to Harare, where his wife Liz appealed for clemency for the lions.
鈥淭he party raised the alarm and five cars arrived and they started firing but it was too late. He didn鈥檛 stand a chance," Rodrigues said.
Lions and other animals roam freely in the park, which is not fenced.
鈥淲e used to have a lot of impala and buffalo here, but they鈥檝e been poached or killed over the years, so it鈥檚 forced the lions to come closer to humans," Rodrigues added.
鈥淢ore people are also coming to national parks like Mana and there鈥檚 no limit to people coming in. They can walk around without guides and the lions see that. They are wild animals and will kill if they鈥檙e hungry 鈥� it鈥檚 natural to them.鈥�
He said the area has seen a reduction in the number of prides (lion herds) 鈥� from 20 prides five years ago to about eight now 鈥� spurred on by poaching. Chinese buyers will pay $3,000 per kilogram for lion bones to grind down for medicine or wine.
Rodrigues's conservation group said eight people were killed by lions in rural areas of Zimbabwe between May and June, which resulted in some cats being killed in revenge.
