A female Zimbabwean nurse collapsed and fainted at local General Hospital after reportedly noticing what she described as a ‘witch’ sucking blood from a patient in a hospital ward.

The incident occurred while the nurse was carrying out routine checks on patients early on Wednesday morning. The nurse has now been admitted at the hospital, receiving treatment.

A hospital official said staff were now afraid to work nights following the incident which has become the talk of the city of Gweru.

“The affected nurse is still admitted in hospital where she is receiving treatment. Fear has now gripped the hospital staff following the incident as most nurses are now afraid to go on night duty,” the unnamed official said.

The incident took place as the nurse made her routine rounds in the female wards at around 3am in the morning.

“When she came across the witch, the drip had been removed from the patient. The witch was apparently busy sucking blood from the patient and the on-duty nurse immediately raised an alarm upon witnessing the shocking incident. She (the nurse) suddenly collapsed and fainted,” the hospital official said.

“She is still weak and is being attended to by a doctor. However, she is now able to narrate what really transpired on the fateful day.”

Hospital superintendant, Dr Fabian Mashingaidze confirmed that a nurse was being treated at the institution but dismissed as fantasy reports of a “witch” citing.

“Let me assure the general public that there is no incident of that sort which happened at Gweru Provincial Hospital. It’s a fabrication from some people who are fantasising,” Dr Mashingaidze said.

“The nurse is being attended to by one of the doctors but her condition and the nature of the aliment is confidential.”

There may finally be proof that a big cat may be on the loose and killing deer in Gloucestershire, experts have warned.

Last week, dog walkers discovered the mutilated carcass of a roe deer on National Trust land near Stroud in England.

The experts believe that the injuries to the neck of the deer and the way the carcass had been consumed are believed to be highly indicative of big cat activity.

Experts have taken DNA samples from the remains of the deer to see whether a big cat, such as a puma or panther, could have killed it.

Local big cat expert Rick Minter, who has visited the site of the discovery at Woodchester Park, said: “It is very helpful to have this forensic study of the deer carcass.

“The consistent feedback I receive from people about possible big cats is that the animals should be studied, so we can learn about the subject.

“Studying likely evidence such as this will help us become more informed.

Mr Minter added: “Although people occasionally report a possible big cat from a distance, close up encounters with such cats are rare.

“Their hearing and movement are exceptional, which helps them avoid close contact with people.”

“In the event of a close-up encounter, you should stay calm and face towards the animal as you back off, but not threaten or aggravate it.

“The chances are it will have backed off very quickly first.”

David Armstrong, the National Trust’s head ranger for Gloucestershire, said: “There are some very occasional sightings of big cats in the Cotswolds, but they have wide territories, so are rarely present in one particular spot for long.

“We’d be interested to hear of any more sightings at Woodchester.”

Dr Robin Allaby, Associate Professor at the school of life sciences at the University of Warwick, visited to take DNA samples.

These are now being tested with the results due by the end of the month.

For centuries, there have been thousands of reported sightings of large felines on moorland and in woods and fields across the UK.

The animals – normally black or brown – are believed have been spotted in almost every county in Britain.

Scientists at Edinburgh Zoo have solved the mystery of a yeti finger taken from Nepal more than 50 years ago.

The mummified remains have been held in the Royal College of Surgeons museum in London since the 1950s.

After being lost for some years, it was just recently rediscovered during cataloguing.

A DNA sample analysed by the zoo’s genetic expert Dr Rob Ogden finally revealed the finger’s true origins.

Following DNA tests it has found to be human bone.

The yeti, also known as the Abominable Snowman, is a legendary giant ape-like creature said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal and Tibet.

Despite the lack of evidence of its existence, the yeti myth retains a strong appeal in both Nepal and the west, where it became popular in the 19th century.

The finger, which was said to be from a yeti, was taken from a Nepalese monastery by an American explorer in the 1950s.

He replaced it with a human finger he had been given by a British scientist.

It was then smuggled out of India with the help of Hollywood actor James Stewart, who hid the artefact in his wife’s lingerie case.

It was later sent to the Royal College of Surgeons museum where it remained ever since. The College gave permission for the DNA test to take place.

Dr Rob Ogden, of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said: “We had to stitch it together. We had several fragments that we put into one big sequence and then we matched that against the database and we found human DNA.

“So it wasn’t too surprising but it was obviously slightly disappointing that you hadn’t discovered something brand new.

“Human was what we were expecting and human is what we got.”

Primatologist Ian Redmond said: “From what we know of accounts of Yetis, I would have expected a more robust and longer finger and possibly with some hair on the back.

“If one had just found it without the story attached to it, I think you would think it was a human finger.

When the severed head of a wolf wrapped in women’s lingerie turned up near the city of Tabouk this week, the Anti-witchcraft Unit was on the case.

Agents of the Unit were quickly dispatched and set about trying to break the spell that used the beast’s head.

Saudi Arabia takes witchcraft so seriously that it has banned the Harry Potter series, rife with tales of sorcery and magic.

The Anti-Witchcraft Unit was set up in May 2009 and placed under the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPV), Saudi Arabia’s religious police.

“In accordance with our Islamic tradition we believe that magic really exists,” Abdullah Jaber, a political cartoonist at the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah, told The Media Line.

“The fact that an official body, subordinate to the Saudi Ministry of Interior, has a unit to combat sorcery proves that the government recognizes this, like Muslims worldwide.”

The unit is charged with apprehending sorcerers and reversing the detrimental effects of their spells.

The CPV encourages citizens across the kingdom to report cases of sorcery to local officials for immediate treatment.

In the case of the wolf’s head, the Anti-Witchcraft Unit in Tabouk was able to break the spell. The Saudi daily Okaz reported on Monday that the unknown family that had fallen victim to the spell had been “liberated from the jaws of the wolf.”

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