An aggressive bull buffalo killed a man and hampered the retrieval of his body on a farm near Bethlehem on Wednesday, Free State police said.
Sergeant Mmako Mophiring said on Thursday that Sam Shongwe (26) was returning from a pit latrine to a fenced area with two homes when the buffalo attacked at about 10am. Shongwe’s older brother saw the buffalo toss Shongwe into the air, piercing both legs and slicing open one thigh to the genitals.
Shongwe’s older sister, returning from fetching water, saw him lying helplessly. Wanting to pull him into the yard, she threw a stone to try to scare off the buffalo. When the buffalo turned towards her, she ran away and hid in her house within the enclosure.
The police were only informed of the attack at 5.30pm when people arrived home with a cellphone.
On arrival at 5.45pm, the police climbed over a stile, as the main gate to the farm was locked.
Five buffalo were near the yard, with the bull close to the fence, Mophiring said. The bull approached police when they tried to retrieve the body, so the people within the enclosure lit a huge fire to scare it off.
After they managed to get the body into the enclosure, police fired a few shots to scare off the buffalo, before carrying the body to the stile to a waiting mortuary van.
Mophiring said the farmer could not be contacted as his cellphone had been switched off.
A resident told police that a buffalo had attacked a man in his house in March, outside the fenced homesteads enclosure, while he was sleeping.
Police have opened an inquest and a charge under the Animal Protection Act against the farmer for failing to prevent animals from attacking people.
”The buffalo are not enclosed — they move around like cows,” Mophiring said.
The farm also has lions, which are believed to be enclosed, he said. — Sapa