A TWO-YEAR-OLD was mauled to death by a pack of hyenas in Kanyemba, Mashonaland Central.

Zimparks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo said they discovered the child’s head and the clothes, which the boy was putting on.

“There was a sad incident in Mashonaland Central, a two year old boy was killed by hyenas last week. We discovered the head and the clothes the boy putting on,” Farawo said.

He also said another boy went missing on the same day.

“The other boy is still missing. We have deployed a helicopter to search for the missing boy. Investigations are still in progress.

“It’s really unfortunate that we have lost a young life to wildlife,” he said.

Farawo said human- wildlife conflict is mainly caused by the overpopulation of animals in protected areas, which are now invading human settlements causing untoward suffering to our people.

“In order to reduce these cases of dangerous animals which are a threat to human life, we need to manage the numbers,” he added.

Farawo said at least 19 lives have been lost since January this year across the country through human-animal conflicts.

“Cases of human wildlife conflict have been on the increase in the country and so far we have lost 19 lives since January and we receive these cases daily,” he said.

— HMetro