African Parks in Nkhotakota has killed a vicious elephant that trampled upon and killed a woman, 21 year old Sabitha Banda, last week Friday at Bamba village in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Mwadzama in Nkhotakota district.
Park Manager, Sam Kamoto confirmed the incident saying the action was taken to save peoples lives from such a vicious elephant because it has been reportedly escaping the game reserve on several occasions.
“We have managed to kill the elephant as one way of protecting peoples lives. We used a helicopter from Liwonde national park to kill it,” he said
Kamoto has since assured people surrounding the game reserve that African Parks would do everything possible to make sure that people are protected from wildlife.
The death of the woman sparked riots whereby angry villagers torched two vehicles belonging to African Parks and assaulted two officials from African parks in the process.
Village headman Bamba said people around the Game Reserve continue living in fear because of perpetual conflicts between human and wildlife in the area especially during each growing season.
“People are living in fear in my area. They are always afraid of these elephants that they may attack them. We want authorities to intervene and do away with this problem,” he said.
According to husband of the deceased, Gostino Yosefe, the couple on the morning of fateful day, went to their maize field where they were attacked by the elephant.
It was reported that the same elephant attacked and killed a woman back in 2017 in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Mphonde in the same district.
African Parks is a non-profit conservation organization that manages Majete wildlife reserve, Liwonde national park and Nkhotakota game reserve in Malawi.
