THE Department of Veterinary Services in Gwanda hinted that the mystery thing that was killing goats in Makwe area could have been dogs infected with rabies.

The department says it had to put down six dogs in the area after they attacked and killed goats.

This comes as authorities are still battling with the mystery of an unknown blood-sucking creature that has been killing livestock in the area.

About 80 goats have been killed by the unknown beast since the beginning of last month.

In an interview with State Media, Matabeleland South provincial veterinary officer, Dr Enat Mdlongwa said six dogs belonging to a villager from the area were gunned down on Saturday last week. He said since then they had not received any reports on goats being killed.

“We received a report from villagers on dogs that were killing goats in Makwe area at night. Our officers went there and shot six dogs. We took samples for testing and we are awaiting results to ascertain whether they are rabid or not. Since those dogs were shot we haven’t received any report on more goats being killed. We can’t ascertain for now whether the problem has been solved but only time will tell,” he said.

ZimParks national spokesperson, Mr Tinashe Farawo said they were still conducting investigations to identify the animal which was killing the goats. He said the visit which was conducted by officers last week did not yield any results as the carcasses were too deteriorated to produce conclusive results.