Innocent Komakech, the Ceke Village Secretary says the elephant attacked the deceased at about 7:15 Am Thursday in his garden while weeding soya beans. He notes that the incident has raised alarms about the safety of locals amidst the rising incursion of stray elephants from Murchison Falls National Park.
An elephant has trampled on a 22-year-old man to death in Nwoya District. Local leaders have identified the
deceased as Calvin Omara, a resident of Ceke village, in Langele Parish, Koch Lii Sub-County.
Innocent Komakech, the Ceke Village Secretary says the
elephant attacked the deceased at about 7:15 Am Thursday in his garden while weeding soya beans. He notes that the incident has
raised alarms about the safety of locals amidst the rising incursion of stray elephants
from Murchison Falls National Park.
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He says the area has witnessed
persistent incursion of marauding elephants that have resulted in the loss of
property, injuries, and lives over the years and scared away the community from
further engaging in agriculture.
Koch Lii Sub-County Council Speaker
Fred Mackay Wilobo says at least four people have been killed this year alone in
the area and raised fears that more incidents are bound to happen owing to the
invasion of the elephants.
Luo bite
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Wilobo says there is a need by
the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to fast-track the installation of an electric
fence in the area to stop the invasion of wildlife. Koch Lii Sub-County has three
parishes that directly border the Murchison Falls National Park. They are Lii
Parish, Langele Parish, and Lutuk Parish.
Wilson Kagoro, the Warden
Community Conservation at Murchison Falls National Park says a team from UWA
had been dispatched to carry documentation for compensation purposes since the
incident happened outside the National Park.
Kagoro however notes that UWA is
committed to installing electric fences to cover all the areas used by wildlife
from the Murchison Falls to access the community, especially in Koch Lii Sub-County. He says plans are in high gear to
install 10 km of electric fence to cover areas of Okwoto Sub-village in Lii
Parish towards Adibuk sub-village in Langele Parish all in Koch Lii Sub-County which are currently hotspot corridors for elephants and other wildlife from the
National Park.
Kagoro says UWA has so far
installed an electric fence stretching 52 km in community areas bordering the
National Park. The areas include Kamdini and Myene Sub counties in Oyam
District and Got Apwoyo and Purongo Sub counties in Nwoya District. The latest incidence comes barely
three weeks after a 12-year-old boy was trampled to death by herds of elephants
in Kibira Village, Kibira Parish in Got Apwoyo Sub-County on August 25.
