The management of the Yankari Games Reserve and Safari in Yankari, Bauchi State has confirmed the killing of two persons by elephants in a nearby village, Bajama.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Sole Administrator of Yankari Games Reserve, Habu Mamman, on Thursday.
Mamman said the incident occured on July 8, 2018 when the elephants went out of the reserve through Sharam early in the morning and headed towards Bajama village.
The statement said: “The elephants went to Gwartanbali forest where villagers living around there got excited and came in large numbers and put the elephants in a circle, taking pictures and trying to touch them.
“Tragedy struck when the elephants got charged and scattered the crowd and the villagers all ran for safety but as a result, they pushed down a 9-year boy called Fa’izu Chiroma Musa who was trampled by one of the elephants and he died on the spot around 10am.
Maman said after the elephants proceeded into the forest, the villagers kept on following them, leading to the hitting of a 45-year-old man Malam Haruna Abubakar, who was trying to get a close picture of the elephants.
Abubakar also died on the spot.
This was at about 4pm.
Mamman added: “It took our rangers some hours to control the crowd who kept on following the elephants before they could chase back the elephants into the reserve. Normally the Rangers are able to provide rapid intervention and chase the elephants back into the reserve when they go out but this case was difficult because the villagers were very excited and wanted to go close and touch the elephants. They said it is their first time of seeing and coming in contact with elephants.”
Mamman said conflict between elephants and humans was not uncommon around Yankari Games Reserve.
He noted that it was the first fatality case the reserve has recorded in a long time, adding: “We have visited the families of the deceased and they said that they were ignorant that Elephants can be dangerous and admitted that it was their fault to get close to the Elephants.
“It takes about three hours to drive from the Yankari gate to both villages.”
Elephants from Bauchi’s Yankari Games Reserve kills two persons
