A 13-year-old student and a man have died after being attacked by buffaloes near Botswana’s Chobe National Park game reserve, the government announced on Thursday.
The Ministry of Environment said wildlife authorities launched a hunt after a buffalo injured, on Tuesday, a 37-year-old in Kasane, a town on the Chobe river, which marks the vast reserve’s northern border.
Park officials traced the animal to a secondary school where it attacked and killed a 13-year-old by the school’s football grounds, the ministry said.
A day later, another two men were attacked by a lone buffalo in the area.
A 30-year-old man of Kgaphamadi ward in the tourist town was attacked near Seboba Recreational Park yesterday afternoon while he and a friend were on a walk.
He died of wounds suffered in the incident while his friend escaped with only minor injuries.
Authorities said the animal was put down and two more buffaloes roaming near local schools were also killed.
The ministry urged people in the area “to be vigilant at all times as these animals pose danger to human life”.
Reached for comment, Kasane Police Station commander, Superintendent James Maabong said what they have established so far is that three buffalos were roaming Kasane, but they [police] have since killed all of them.
“[On] Wednesday morning we managed to kill two of the buffalos but sadly we only located the third one after it had already taken a second victim. He was in the company of his friend who escaped uninjured.
“We have killed them [buffalos] because they tend to become very dangerous after their first kill. We can only plead with residents to be alert and cautious at all times,” he said.
Maabong stated that the deceased had sustained multiple injuries and was found lying in a pool of blood.
