Malawi army sent to corral loose elephants
Date: 24-Jun-03
Country: MALAWI
Author: Denis Mzembe
Their mission: to drive an estimated 150 of the beasts back into the Kasungu National Park on the Zambian border before they do more damage. One group of 50 pachyderms has already returned.
"School pupils are being escorted by armed game rangers to and from school every day," said Kasungu District Commissioner Christopher Makileni.
Makileni said damage to the park's electric fence by thieving local tinsmiths had enabled the elephants to break free in the central tobacco-growing region. He said the elephants had also injured several people, two of them seriously. Crops and homes have also been damaged.
The world's largest land mammal lives in uneasy co-existence with rapidly growing human populations in rural Africa, where only a handful of countries still have free-roaming herds that are not confined to fenced-off game parks.
At least 10 people were killed earlier this year after a pride of lions broke free from the same Malawi game park.