Elephants have been reportedly on rampage in the area. At least 4,000 people are stuck with no appropriate shelter and food after they flee their homes last week after frequent attacks by the elephants from Murchison Falls National Park. Authorities have reported over 500 families in need of support as the animals have destroyed their crops. Several families are now spending nights in the cold because the animals trampled on their houses, sleeping on verandas of buildings at trading centers and return home only during the day.
The residents have given the Uganda wild Life Authority (UWA) a duration of one month to drive the elephants back into the park, or else they are going to kill the animals for their survival, warned UWA. The district Woman MP spoke out and said that they will take the lead in dealing with the animals if UWA fails to drive them back into the park within the designated period.
Considering that Agriculture is the backbone for people in this area. If elephants keep on with this there will not be any hope for the local people to survive. However, the area conservation manager reported that rangers are by now on the ground to drive the animals back. Since 2006 the communities around the park have been battling the wild animals that have on average destroyed about 10,000 acres of crops in the area annually. In 2010, the elephants in the same area attacked, killed one person and 11 people seriously injured. Due to these incidences, the local communities that neighbor the national parks have sent a clear message to the Uganda Wildlife Authority to either drive the wild animals back to the parks or to kill them in self defense.
GORILLA TREKKING SAFARI