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Killer Leopard shot dead by rangers on
Wednesday. (Photo by Hans Nakora) |
Leopard kills six-year-old French boy
By Correspondent Sukhdev Chhatbar
A six-and-half-year old French boy was last Saturday evening killedby aleopard
withinthe Tarangire National Park, about 115 kilometres southeast of Arusha
municipality.
The Director General of the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), Gerald Bigurube,
said that the incident happened when the boy, Adrien Pereira, was heading from
his lodge hut to the dinning room at around 7.00 pm for dinner.
"The leopard was lounging in one of the branches and when it saw the boy alone,
came down and grabbed him then dragged the boy into a nearby bush," said
Bigurube.
Dragging of the boy and unusual movements in the dark, drew attention of those
who were in the lodge," he said, and immediately a chase was launched which
forced the leopard to drop the boy a few metres from the lodge.
According to Bigurube, the boy was rushed to the park's clinic and on reaching
there the boy died of injuries and bleeding.
He said the park's rangers immediately launched a man hunt for the leopard and
succeeded to kill it in the early hours of Wednesday.
"This is a very sad incident and we regret the loss of the child," Bigurube
added.
The deceased's father has hardly spent two months in Tanzania since joining the
U.N's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), trying the key
perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.
According to French Honorary Counsel in Arusha, Marc Basseporte, the parents of
the deceasedleft for Parison Wednesday to arrange for the funeral of their son.
The deceased's body was flownon Thursday,he said.
The staff and entire leadership of ICTR have been shocked at the tragedy and
have expressed their deepfelt condolence to the bereaved family.
Tarangire park boasts of one of the world's best wildlife such as wildebeest,
zebra, eland, elephant, lions,leopards, hartebeest, buffalo, gerenuk, fringe
eared Oryx and flocks of birds of many different species.
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