VILLAGERS in eDumbe have vowed to resort to killing the wild animals that have tormented them for a while.
This warning came after they killed a leopard on Saturday. They allege the leopard belongs to a farmer who keeps leopards in his fenced forest just across the village.
Mfana Zwane alleged farmers came to buy trees in the area.
“They sell the trees to Sappi and Mondi, the companies that manufacture paper,” said Zwane.
“After they saw that residents went inside these farms to fetch wood, they decided to fence the forests and put a few leopards inside to safeguard them from residents.”
He said lately these leopards went out of the forest to eat their livestock.
“Our livestock is being finished by these leopards. Our lives are even in danger because leopards eat anything that has blood.”
He said during the Saturday incident, residents including kids decided to set a trap where the leopard routinely walked when hunting for prey.
“Residents have carefully studied that when a leopard knows he got his prey in a certain spot, he always uses the same routine to look for more food.
“They noticed that in a certain path (gravel) in the village, there were several footprints. That is how they decided to put a trap in that spot.”
He said the leopard was indeed found in the trap made out of strong wire.
“The trap was made in a way that the leopard would put its head inside and then get stuck. Each time it tried to get its head out, the wire tightened around its neck, and it eventually got killed,” said Zwane.
He said they didn’t regret killing the animal as they saw this as the only way to free themselves from its torture.
