A 25-YEAR-OLD fisherman of Chief Malama’s area in Mambwe district in Eastern Province has died after being attacked by a crocodile in the Luangwa River.
This came to light when Chief Malama told Eastern Province Permanent Secretary, Buleti Nsemukila who called on him at his palace.
Chief Malama named the victim as Mr Limited Phiri met his fate last Sunday as he was fishing in his boat.
The traditional leader explained that Mr Phiri was attacked by the reptile after his boat capsized.
He said officers from the Department National Parks and Wildlife were still hunting the reptile that killed Mr Phiri.
Chief Malama has since appealed to Government to quickly deploy hunters to help reduce the human-animal conflict in the area which he said had reached alarming levels.
He said his chiefdom had seen increased cases of animal attacks especially in which elephants destroyed crop fields and houses without compensation to the victims.
The traditional leader said that there was need to protect the lives of the people within Game Management Areas (GMAs).
Chief Malama charged that officers from the Department National Parks and Wildlife appeared reluctant to act when people were killed by animals but were quick to respond when people killed animals.
And Dr Nsemukila said there was need to have an integrated approach where the Ministry of Education and National Parks and Wildlife collaborated to empower teachers who worked in GMAs with survival skills.
Dr Nsemukila said that would help teachers in selected schools contribute in addressing the human-animal conflict which was a biggest threat in GMAs.
The PS noted that lack of mobile phone services and poor road infrastructure were some of the major issues affecting communities in the area.
He promised to engage Ministry of Transport and Communication on the need to operationalize the communication tower which was erected in the area by ZAMTEL last year.
Dr Nsemukila said that communication was important and stressed the need for the presence of mobile phone services in the area.-ZANIS
