Botswana Shoots At Least 22 Cattle 'Stolen From Zimbabwe'

cattle

Botswana authorities have reportedly shot at least 22 cattle that were allegedly stolen from Zimbabwe's Bulilima district.

According to the Chronicle newspaper, Botswana recently announced a shoot to kill policy against Zimbabwe's livestock which are found in the southern African country. Zimbabwean police spokesperson Charity Charamba confirmed the shooting.

"I can confirm that 22 Zimbabwean cattle were shot in Botswana on Monday. These cattle were regarded by Botswana authorities as stray cattle but they were recently reported to have been stolen from Zimbabwe," Charamba was quoted as saying.

A local headman Senganyodo Jetchen alleged that Botswana nationals were stealing livestock from neighbouring Zimbabwe.

He claimed that four Zimbabwean villagers had lost their cattle to suspected Batswana thieves. Jetcheni said that the four villagers had traced the spoors of their cattle to Botswana - Zimbabwe border line.

This was not the first time that authorities in Botswana shot cattle from Zimbabwe.

New Zimbabwe.com reported in October last year, that Botswana shot and burnt more than 400 stray Zimbabwean cattle.

Authorities claimed at the time that they had been forced to shoot the cattle because they were "affecting the country's beef export to the European Union market".

They said they were not going to risk exposing their cattle to foot and mouth diseases from Zimbabwean cattle.