OMALINDI – Hopes to possibly get redress by a farmer in Oshikoto Region who lost some goats to unknown predators were shattered yesterday when officials from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism informed her, she will not get compensation for her eight goats.
The incident that left the family stunned happened in the early morning hours of Tuesday. The family says an unidentified predator entered their kraal and killed the goats after it apparently sucked blood through the neck although the beast never feasted on the carcasses.
“We heard a lot of noise outside between 01:00 until 04:00, but we did not know what was happening. However, one of our daughters woke up to ascertain what was happening and saw a black thing that looks bigger than a dog, but due to fear, she ran back inside. Surprisingly, that animal did not run away and it continued to suck the goats, which run into the court yard to seek refuge,” explained the farmer, Victoria Amukwaya.
“Four of the goats died in the kraal, while two were killed in the court and other two were outside the yard. It is the first time we are experiencing something of this nature,” she said.
However, upon inspection by the environment officials, they said such types of cases are normally difficult to address, because it is unknown what type of predator was involved and it is very difficult to state definitely that the goats were indeed killed by wildlife.
“We cannot say this act was of a wild animal, because we do not have blood suckers in our country. Even though it happens, this type of predators remains unknown. This is not the first case of this nature,” explained an official who declined to be named, as he is not allowed to speak to the media.
Meanwhile the ministry’ spokesperson, Romeo Muyunda said the ministry only pays compensation based on a specific wildlife hence in this case it is very challenging to claim responsibility as there is no concrete evidence.
“For instance this could be a dog, thus a dog is a domestic animal and it is not part of our compensation policy. Therefore, we are extremely careful on how we treat such cases. In the same vein, I would like to appeal to the community to assist us in reporting timely in an event they spot such similar animals so that we can investigate,” stressed Muyunda.