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Charged jumbos trample border patrol cop to death (Zimbabwe)

Author(s)

New Zimbabwe

Date Published

See link for photo.

A cop died Tuesday after a border patrol base came under attack from two charged elephants which had strayed from Cecil Kopje Nature Reserve.

Although local police confirmed the incident, they refused to shed more light on what transpired referring questions to their superiors in Harare. However, sources privy to the incident said the junior cop was on duty at Rimai Base, about six kilometres from the reserve which is located along Zimbabwe-Mozambique border, when the jumbos attacked him.

Cecil Kopje is run by the privately-owned Wildlife Environment Zimbabwe. 

 
Sources said the two jumbos sneaked out of the reserve through an area where the electric fence was reportedly vandalised by villagers who cross into Mozambique at night to smuggle merchandise for resell locally. 
 
The jumbos reportedly arrived at the tent where the now deceased was in company of a Zimbabwe National Army soldier and two cops from ZRP Support Unit.

The soldier saw the two elephants and warned his colleagues who ran away in different directions. The victim was, however, unfortunate as he met the jumbos on his way back to the base. The elephants reportedly charged towards the cop and trampled him to death.

Residents who reside near the nature reserve have, over the years, lobbied for relocation of the elephants, saying they were a threat to human life and property. 

 
However, Wildlife Environment Zimbabwe has always blamed the problem on locals who vandalise the electric fence in order to smuggle goods from Mozambique via the nature reserve.