PERILS IN JUNGLES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19798, 19 November 1927, Page 2 (Supplement)

PERILS IN JUNGLES.

HUNGRY WILD BEASTS.

•PROWLING MAN-EATERS.

MENACE .TO UGANDA NATIVES. Prowling man-eating lions which enter native and ca>rry off men, women and children are causing serious concern in Uganda According to the report of the game department, thirty-three natives were killed in three months. The warden states that in several instances he operated successfully against the lions by using poison, tho difficulty of shooting being enhanced by the roughness of the country and the density of the bush.

The report contains remarkable instances of the sagacity of the man-eaters. One was discovered invariably to accompany a herd of elephants. This not only made the tracing of the beast impossible but enabled it to capture the natives who went out to drive the elephants from their plantations. The natives, the report states, are doing remarkably good work in removing what has become a serious pest. Cases are on rc ord of a chief and a party of natives in

the village of Kyagwe tracking half-a-dozen lions to the rocky hills where, with the aid of nets and beaters, they were speared and killed. Natives, however, are adverse to the use of the traps which are issued by the department. The reason is that these traps need careful attention and must be sprung by day. Otherwise vultures, marabout storks and secretary birds come down to the bait and fall victims.

The report adds that crocodiles are included among other man-eaters, and that the hippopotamus is becoming more aggressive towards human beings. The elephant work is full of danger. In Bunyora, fTR- instance, the shooting has to be carried out from trees and the hunters are often knocked from their perches into the headlong flight'of a herd of elephants after a shot has been fired.

The report refers to the feat of a ranger who bagged three elephants with one round of .256 ammunition. It occurred in tall gi*ass, where, after a stern chase, a herd of elephants was seen to ascend the opposite hill slope. The ranger, seeing that the elephants were likely to pass a tiny opening in the grass about 250 yards away, fixed his rifle in a convenient'fork of a tree and waited. An elephant emerged from the cover into the open space and with a bullet through the heart dropped

dead. The great carcass slid down the hillside, crashing open a wide lane through the grass.

A second elephant appeared and re* ceived a bullet near the heart, which did riot kill it, but caused it to fall down. The steepness of the slope prevented it regaining its feet and in its turn the animal began to slide down the course taken by the first.

A third elephant now stepped into the lane just below number two, which had now gained considerable momentum and which swept the third elephant off its feet. Together the two disappeared into the chasm of the valley, not before, however, a fourth elephant had attempted to cross the lane and was Caught in the avalanche of bodies.

The four elephants were found huddled at the bottom of the valley, dead, their bones smashed to pieces.