Durban - Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife CEO, Sihle Mkhize has expressed his condolences to the family of a man who was killed by an elephant on September 5 in northern KwaZulu-Natal
In a statement Ezemvelo said that it received the report of the incident last Wednesday in which Bhekisabelo Prince Nyawo was killed.
The incident happened on the eastern shores of the Pongolapoort Dam.
“The circumstances surrounding the incident are still not clear but it is thought that two people entered the Pongola Nature Reserve looking for their missing cattle. At some point, they came across a herd of elephants.”
Ezemvelo said the details of what transpired was not clear.
“All that is known is that the bull elephant attacked the two men, and one person escaped unharmed. The second person was, unfortunately, killed on the scene. The person who survived alerted the family of the deceased.”
Mkhize added that the family, assisted by community members, searched for the missing person on Tuesday.
“The incident was reported to the SAPS at Ingwavuma and a decision was taken to delay any rescue attempts due to the presence of the herd of elephants near where the body of Mr Nyawo had been earlier discovered. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the SAPS Search & Rescue Team was dispatched to assist with the recovery of the deceased.”
Ezemvelo said that it is difficult to know what might have caused the attack.
However, it said it should be noted that there have been several incidents of elephants being shot at by poachers in the area.
“This has resulted in most elephants being unpredictable and dangerous. The elephant that killed this person may have been in musth, or perhaps wounded, or might have been harassed by people before the incident.”
Ezemvelo’s Mkhize added that they were saddened by the loss of life.
“Our prayers are with the family of the deceased. As an organisation, we shall support the family of the deceased to the best of our abilities. We hope that this unfortunate incident will serve to bring the community and the nature reserve to work together so that we shall prevent such future incidents.”
Mkhize said that Ezemvelo will again initiate engagement with the legal owners of these elephants so that they can be recaptured. These elephants arrived in the area in October 2016 when they were herded across the international border between the South Africa and Eswatini.
The funeral of Nyawo will take place on Tuesday, September at Galweni, in Ngwavuma. He leaves behind two children.