By Rex Mphisa
ADDITIONAL professional hunters have been roped in to capture the lions in Beitbridge East, Council chairman Oscar Chiromo has said.
According to latest information the lioness with cubs was drifting eastwards towards Dite.
To date no human animal conflicts involving the two lions, one with cubs, have been reported.
Satelite images showed the lioness, believed to have cubs, had moved east but keeping close to the river in its movement.
“We received information and satelite images showing the lion is moving eastwards,” Chiromo said.
The elusive lions believed to have escaped from the Kruger National Park and moved through Gonarezhou and upstream the baks of the Limpopo.
The adult lions have collars and have been monitored on satelite.
Beitbridge residents are baffled as to why the lions have not been captured yet so much resources have been put towards the exercise.
Teams from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, Zimbabwe Republic Police, Bubye Valley Conservancy and other professinal hunters drom South Africa have been on an exercise to try and capture the lions.
The officer commanding Beitbridge Police District on Tuesday said the lion had been spotted but it disapeared in the woods.
“Are there any lions or its just talk. Why are they not catching them if any? If rhey are on tracker people should just go and pick rhem,” said a clearing agent identified only as Never.
Research shows lions are primarily nocturnal and crepuscular animals, meaning they are most active at night, dawn, and dusk.
They spend the majority of the day up to 15-20 hours resting or sleeping to conserve energy, especially in the heat of the African savanna.
This is when they do most of their hunting, traveling, and socializing.
Lions have exceptional night vision, which is 6-8 times better than humans, giving them a distinct advantage over prey in the dark.