The father of Elisha Nabugyere, the two-and-half-year old child who was eaten by a leopard in Queen Elizabeth National Park has spoken out, describing, as horrible, the tragedy that befell the family.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Francis Manana, an instructor at the Police Senior Command and Staff College at Bwebajja, said the mother of the child, Doreen Ayera a ranger at Queen Elizabeth National Game Park, had just left for the evening staff briefing leaving the boy with his nanny outside the unfenced staff quarters of a safari lodge in the park. The boy then sneaked from her and moved a few meters to the river bank where leopard grabbed him.
“The maid was not aware when the child sneaked. She heard the kid’s shrill cry but it was too late as she just saw the leopard’s tail disappearing into the bush. The leopard had vanished with it in the bush and a search was mounted until we got the skull the next day,” SSP Manana said.
The family, he added, will never recover from the incident.
Only bones and the boy’s skull were retrieved after a day’s search.
“We buried yesterday, but I am crestfallen because of the way my son died. It is a dreadful incident I will never forget,” SSP Manana said of his now-deceased child, who was born on November 30, 2015. The child was buried yesterday in Sironko district.
Asked whether the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) had issued an apology or compensated the family, Mr Manana said the Authority only helped with burial expenses and are yet to give a report to the family on how the incident unfolded.
“I haven’t received any communication regarding the incident from UWA but what I know is that they took part in burial arrangements,” Mr. Manana said.
