Dairy farmers from the grazing area around Gishwati-Mukura National Park located in the Western Province’s districts of Rubavu, Rutsiro, Ngororero, and Nyabihu, have appealed for government support to protect them from unidentified animal that has been killing their cows.

The animal that has killed some dozens of cows has ignited fear among dairy farmers in the area which is among the major milk production zones in the country.

Gishwati-Mukura National Park is home to different animal species.

According to available information, the predator is largely targeting calves and adult heifers. 

Thomas Kalinijabo Gatarama, president of CEMO – a cooperative of modern dairy farmers in Nyabihu District told The New Times on Monday that the predator is not yet known, and that so far, it has been attacking cows at night.

The cooperative, he said, has 67 dairy members, with 670 cows.

"The animal has killed over 50 cows," he estimated, suggesting that the issue started about a year ago.

"We need Government intervention to protect us from this fierce animal because it is inflicting heavy loss on us,” said Kalinijabo, who has also lost one animal.

Gad Tegeri Gahiya, the president of Nyabihu Dairy Farmers’ Cooperatives’ Union said the number of cows lost could even be more, suggesting that the strange animal comes from Government owned Gishwati-Mukura National Park.

"The animal is killing a cow every night,” he estimated. "This causes uncertainty about the future of the affected dairy farmers,” he said.  

Compensations and lasting solution

Gahiya said they reported the issue to Rwanda Development Board (RAB) and the Rwanda Agriculture [and Animal Resources] Board, adding that the affected dairy farmers have not yet been compensated for the lost cows.

"We want compensation [for the lost cows]; and we request that, if possible, that animal be trapped so that it does not continue causing destruction as a lasting solution,” he said.

Télesphore Ngoga, Conservation Analyst at Rwanda Development Board (RDB) told The New Times that RDB is aware of the problem where unidentified animals have been killing livestock but added that they don’t have the total count of all animals lost.

"This is a problem we are working together to address in partnership with representatives of the stock breeders, the district leadership, and the security organs,” he said.

"We are trying to establish the type of animal which is killing livestock and then come up with a lasting solution,” he said.

He said that it has been realised that the predator was targeting calves and young heifers.

In addition, he said that they encouraged dairy farmers to build sheds for their calves.

Nyabihu District Mayor, Antoinette Mukandayisenga said the stockbreeders have not yet been compensated for their cows, adding that cameras that were installed to help identify the animal have so far shown ordinary small animals that cannot possibly kill a cow to that extent.

"We are making advocacy so that the dairy farmers whose cows were killed by the animal get compensation,” she said, urging herdsmen to remain vigilant for the protection of the cows.

Regarding compensation, Ngoga said it would be handled by the Special Guarantee Fund (SGF). SGF is a government insurance agency mandated to compensate victims of accidents and damages caused by uninsured and non-identified automobiles and wild animals.

Joseph Nzabonikuza, Director General of SGF told The New Times that the most urgent thing to do is to identify the predator in question and where it comes from, adding RDB was working on that.

Meanwhile, he said that last year, the fund compensated dairy farmers in areas around Gishwati-Mukura Park, for about 70 cows that were killed by wild animals.

"As an agency mandated for compensating residents whose livestock is killed by wild animals from protected areas, we compensate because the predator is presumed to come from Gishwati-Mukura Park,” he said.

"Though we have not yet seen it, we think that it is a ferocious one because there is no other kind of animal that can kill a cow like that,” he said.

He said that affected people submit their complaints to their respective sectors, which prepare their reports and send them to the fund for compensation purposes, adding that its workers also visit sites in question in this regard.