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Tragedy at Chipangali
Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF)
June 08, 2010

On the 1st of June 2010, Robyn Lotz, a 26 year old volunteer at Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage near Bulawayo, was attacked and killed by a fully grown male lion.

The lion had been moved into a security cage while Robyn and several other workers were loading bales of fresh grass into the main cage. Tragically, one of the workers had neglected to close the gate of the security cage properly and the lion attacked and pulled Robyn to the ground, seizing the back of her head in his mouth. Kevin Wilson, the proprietor of Chipangali shot the lion in an effort to save Robyn's life but sadly, she died upon arrival at the hospital.

We would like to extend our deepest sympathy to Robyn's family and to all those at Chipangali who were involved in this horrific incident.

The death of the Musango bull elephant

The Musango Bull Elephant was a magnificent animal, considered by some to be part of Zimbabwe's national heritage. He lived on the shores of Lake Kariba near the Bumi Hills area. On the 23rd of May 2010, he was shot in the Omay North area by a professional hunting organization despite the fact that he was wearing a clearly visible satellite tracking collar. For more details, please email me.

Sharon Pincott - elephant ambassador

In the midst of this latest elephant-related controversy, I looked back at a recent Getaway magazine (April 2010) to a short article about the capture of wild elephants in Zimbabwe, that raised hope in many. Sharon Pincott has worked with the Presidential Elephants of Zimbabwe for the past decade, and last year was appointed Getaway's 'Elephant Ambassador in Africa' - an ideal platform for her to encourage tourists back to Zimbabwe. For those of you who haven't seen this edition of the magazine, you can read the article as well as other 'Elephant Ambassador' articles on Sharon's website. It is tragic that the 'celebration' referred to didn't last for long. I can only reiterate Sharon's words: "never turn a deaf ear when mankind gives [the elephants] reason to cry".

Animals dying on starvation island

Starvation Island which previously had an area of 5 square kilometres has now shrunk to a third of its size due to rising water in Lake Kariba. Approximately 200 animals are in immediate danger of starving to death and some have already died or drowned in a desperate attempt to swim to the mainland, 3 kilometres away.

Elephants have managed to escape by swimming to the mainland but the smaller species such as kudu, buck, warthogs and monkeys are too weak to survive the marathon swim. Rescuers have managed to save some of the buck by holding their heads out of the water by their horns for the last stretch of their escape.

The animals are too weak to be darted and moved to the mainland so conservationists are trying to raise funds to feed the animals with hay bales and food blocks.

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