Ghana: Wildlife officials hunt for strayed elephant in North East Region

Accra, Ghana (PANA) -  Ghana's Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission Thursday began a hunt for one of three rampaging elephants that killed a 42-year-old farmer in Yankajia in the East Mamprusi District in the North East Region.

The elephants were said to have strayed into the community Wednesday and attacked its members who ostensibly provoked them, local media network, 3news.com, reported here Thursday.
According to the report, the two other elephants were killed instantly after the community members heard about the farmer's death, leaving the one that escaped into the forest.
After the incident, officials of the Wildlife Division arrived in the community looking for the animal.
Joseph Binlinla, regional manager in charge of the five regions of the north of the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission, said he mobilized his men to go to the field
"Our first point of call was to report the incident to the police. Three of the elephants moved away from a herd of other animals into the community.
"A lot of people who saw the animals rushed to catch a glimpse of them, and in the midst of the euphoria, a young man took his phone and started filming.
"He got too close to the elephants, and because of the flashlight on the phone, the animals' sensed danger and attacked the people; unfortunately, the man lost his life," he said.
"We are still on the field doing investigations, and as soon as it happened, the community mobilized and gunned down two of the animals. We are still tracing the whereabouts of the third animal to see if it had been hit with a bullet".
Binlinla confirmed that although the animals were free-ranging, the Wildlife protected all animals in the forest areas.
"The animals have migrating routes, so they keep moving around from Burkina Faso into Ghana and then into Togo and back to Burkina Faso. So this is historic. The elephants came there some time ago but stayed away for a long time and until yesterday when they returned.
"The elephants, when they arrived, stayed in the community for three days. There was no news of them attacking people until the community people pursued them and they got them killed," inlinla stated
-0- PANA   RA 2Aug2021.