Villagers Want To Shoot Elephants

Villagers living around the Bangweulu Swamp wildlife sanctuary have appealed to the government to ignore foreign conservationists and shoot elephants wrecking crops.

“People may starve because the cassava being destroyed is their staple food,” local councilors said Wednesday in an appeal to President Frederick Chiluba’s government.

District Council Secretary Emmanuel Mukuka said two villagers have been trampled to death trying to defend their families’ crops as elephants have moved in at the start of the rains. More than 2,000 people now face critical food shortages, Mukuka said.