Residents wary of big cat on the loose which has evaded capture, writes Mervyn Naidoo
|||Durban - A lioness, which is believed to have escaped from Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Park, has left residents in Heatonville and Empangeni in fear of attacks.
Marina Visser was the latest Heatonville resident to see the animal.
Visser said she was driving home from work with her daughter when the lioness crossed the road into a sugarcane field, on Friday evening.
“My heart was pounding when I saw the animal,” said Visser. ‘
“I was glad I was in my car.
“It was about 6.45pm when I saw it and she didn’t seem to be bothered by my car’s lights,” she said.
Thomas Cebekhulu, a local induna, is afraid that the lioness may turn on residents and he has called on Ezemvelo Wildlife to capture her.
“I thank God no one has been attacked by the animal as yet, but I will only be satisfied once the Parks Board (Ezemvelo Wildlife) takes it away,” Cebekhulu said.
Fikile Ndlovu, 52, who lives at the foot of the Malongweni mountain, an area in Cebekhulu’s jurisdiction, claimed she spotted the lioness on Wednesday.
“I was at the back door of my house when I saw a large animal standing between some trees,” said Ndlovu.
“My family is living in fear. We try to stay indoors as much as we can.
“Our toilet is away from home. At night we never go there,” she said.
Sifiso Gumede, a farmworker at Heatonville, was wary of the threat the lioness poses. “All the workers here are very afraid. We never walk around by ourselves, we try to walk in pairs.
“I’ve warned my children to be very careful and not to play away from our home,” he said.
Talk about a lioness on the loose apparently surfaced about two weeks ago, but residents’ fears were confirmed when a worker almost bumped into the animal while working in a field on Monday.
Ezemvelo Wildlife sent their trackers to investigate after receiving a report of the incident.
Ezemvelo spokesman Musa Mntambo said the spoor in the area confirmed that the animal was a lion.
He asked residents to remain calm, but careful.
“There’s no point in saying there is no danger. Instead we are asking people who spot the animal to give us a call,” said Mntambo.
He said he had sent trackers to areas were the animal had been spotted and they had also attempted to lure her with “call-ups” (using bait and playing lion roars over speakers).
But so far all efforts had been to no avail.
Sunday Tribune