By Rex Mphisa
PANIC stricken Beitbridge villagers are seeing lions in every footprint and at every turn.
This is a result of officials failure to capture lions that strayed from Kruger National Park and have been roaming in Beitbridge East, close to Mawale Hills.
This has resulted in numerous unfounded reports made to authorities about the dreaded big cats.
All these reports from the panic-stricken villagers have yielded nothing except wastage of fuels and time as authorities are not leaving anything to chance.
An early morning voice note that went viral on social media claimed one Manu Chibi reporting having seen six lions near Chamnanga Secondary School.
This was grossly incorrect just as a similar message broadcast on social media by a woman from Tshigomele who claimed having seen the spoor of an adult lion with smaller prints they felt were of cubs.
All these claims and numerous others have prompted the Department of Parks and Wildlife to broacast images of footprints of different animals in the cat family including dogs.
Parks and Wildlife officials and police have appealed to the public not to sent messages that are not confirmed as these have disrupted the lives of villagers.
Below are some of the different footprints of the different cats.
Yesterday Beitbridge Rural District Council and Zimparks off8cials responded to calls from Chamnanga, Tshigomele and Lutumba but the prints found were of dogs.
