Man killed by elephants in Serengeti

Serengeti. A resident of Kenokwe Village in Mosongo Ward, Serengeti District, Mr Jeremiah Mrimi, 38, has been killed by elephants when returning home from a wedding party.

Mosongo Councilor Samson Mrimi, who is also a relative of the deceased, told The Citizen that the incident occurred on Sunday, December 24 at around 4am.

Mr Mrimi said this was the second incident after the one that took place on June 17, last year, when a resident of Nyamatoke Village, Tano Ndago, 68, was killed by elephants while guarding his maize in his farm.

“The body of the deceased was discovered yesterday at about 9am by some residents, who were working in their farms. They noted that dogs were fighting for a carcass, near the place where the body was found after dogs were seen eating his remains,” said Mr Mrimi

The councilor further said six elephants were spotted in the morning of the day of incident towards the Serengeti National Park. It has been a long time since villagers last saw some wild animals in their village.

He lamented that when a person got by jumbos, the government did nothing, but when it was otherwise, the reaction was different.

The councilor revealed that over 20 people and 600 livestock had already been killed by the elephants since 2009 including 6,000 acres of various crops destroyed by the animals.

Serengeti District’s Game officer John Lendoyan admitted the occurrence of the killing, claiming that the problem of the elephants had been chronic as it had been difficult to control them, despite various strategies of controlling them.

The Serengeti MP, Mr Marwa Ryoba, said such incidents had been making the residents abhor issues of the conservation of nature, advising the government to quickly find an alternative way of controlling killings and destruction of properties of the residents.