Eight Namibians lost lives to human wildlife conflict in past financial year: official

WINDHOEK, April 27– Eight people lost their lives to human wildlife conflict while 41 suffered injuries during the 2020-21 financial year which ended in March this year, Environment Minister Pohamba Shifeta told lawmakers on Thursday.
While motivating his ministry’s budget allocation, Shifeta said 2020-21 was a tough year in terms of human wildlife conflict.
“An estimated 1,195 head of livestock and 660 hectares of crop fields were also destroyed by various wild animals,” Shifeta added.
He said, the Kunene, Zambezi, Kavango East and West regions were again worst affected by this phenomenon.
He added that Namibia will continue to implement the Human Wildlife Conflict Self Reliance Scheme and roll out a range of measures designed to prevent and mitigate the impact of instances of human wildlife conflict in 2021-22 financial year. Xinhua