Hungry Zimbabweans threaten to eat stray giraffe

Police restrained Zimbabwe villagers from slaughtering and eating a giraffe that strayed into the outskirts of Harare, the official media reported today in a country suffering chronic food shortages.

The lone adult giraffe was believed to have wandered into the southern Seke district from nearby farmland.

Wildlife authorities removed the giraffe after police restrained a crowd from killing it “for the pot,” the state Herald reported.

Earlier this month, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it was launching an awareness campaign on moral and ethical issues arising from investigations into cases of pets being slaughtered for meat.

It said while it was not illegal to eat dog meat in Zimbabwe, the nation’s laws covered the humane killing of all animals.

Record numbers of pets were also being handed in to animal shelters by owners who could not afford to feed or find food for them. Vets had run out of drugs to put surrendered animals down.

The Herald said today that a troop of monkeys found its way into a central Harare park, and one caused “commotion” when it strayed into a central five story car park on Friday.

A dry spell and disruptions in the agriculture-based economy have forced animals to make forays into urban areas, experts say.

In recent weeks, authorities have reported one of the worst spates of bush fires across the country, largely blaming mice hunters for setting fires to flush out the rodents. Roasted mice are a traditional dish in some areas.

Zimbabwe is suffering shortages of meat and basic foods in an economic meltdown that has left it with the world’s highest official inflation – nearly 7,000%.

Independent estimates put real inflation closer to 25,000% and the International Monetary Fund forecast it reaching 100,000% by the end of the year.

A government order to slash prices of all goods and services by about half in June has left stores across the country empty of meat, cornmeal, bread and other staples and crippled transport services.

Mice hunters were blamed for a fire that destroyed an old movie set of a mythical African town, kept for years as a reminder of Zimbabwe once being a favoured location by Western film makers. The mythical town of Tongala was built for the movie “King Solomon’s Mines,” featuring US stars Sharon Stone and Richard Chamberlain.