Man kills 4 lions for devouring donkeys

Source: Man kills 4 lions for devouring donkeys – NewZimbabwe 25/06/2016

A CHIREDZI man angered by the loss of his livestock to stray lions laced donkey corpses with poison, killing four lions from Gonarezhou National Park, a local court heard Friday.

Douglas Madhuveko, 65, pleaded guilty to contravening the Wildlife Control Act, when he appeared before magistrate Tafadzwa Mhlanga

Prosecutor Gladmore Gwara told the court that on unknown dates this year, Madhuveko laced three corpses of donkeys that had been killed by the stray predators with a cotton pesticide.

Court heard that Madhuveko then took the laced corpses to some the national park boundaries and four lions late died after eating the poisoned carcasses.

Gwara told the court that Madhuveko became a suspect after he had earlier told parks officials that he was going to revenge the death of his livestock.

In his defence, Madhuveko said he was pained by the loss of his two cattle and three donkeys and had asked the parks officials to kill the lions which were straying from the national park but they refused.

He also told the court that he even asked for a gun to hunt down the lions but the officials also refused resulting in him taking the law into his own hands.

Madhuveko was remanded in custody to 27 June for sentencing.

The value of the four lions was pegged at $80,000.