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Duthuni and surrounding villages looked on as environmental rangers pulled the body of the crocodile, which had had villagers terrified, into their vehicle. Photo: Silas Nduvheni.

“There's a crocodile lurking in the bush”

 

Villagers at Duthuni, Tshisaulu and Phiphidi were terrorized by a crocodile over the past few days. The croc was found hiding in a nearby bush at Duthuni village on Friday morning.

The traditional leader of Duthuni village, Khosi Nndwayamato Ligege, said that a resident of Duthuni-Lutavha village had gone outside at about 04:00 on Thursday after she had heard an unusual sound. Suspecting that burglars might be trying to enter her house, she switched the outside light on and saw the animal outside through her window. However, when she got outside, the crocodile had disappeared into the bushes. The woman warned the nearby households to be on alert, as the crocodile might have attacked community members or learners going to school.

“It is alleged that a young girl alerted the communities on Friday morning about the crocodile. The girl saw the tail of something from a distance but was too afraid to go near it and informed the elders at home. Villagers alerted the members of the local civic organisation to use a loudspeaker to inform the communities to be on the lookout for the crocodile, as it was seen early in the morning,” Ligege said.

“We then informed the local environmental rangers, who came and searched for the crocodile. The crocodile was found some three kilometres from the third household in Duthuni-Lutavha village. They shot and killed it and asked some community members to help carry it to their vehicle. It was one of the biggest crocodiles the local communities had ever seen,” she said.

The crocodile was around two-and-a-half metres long and is suspected to have come from the overflowing Dzindi River, as many crocodiles reportedly live in this river.

“We are thankful that the crocodile was found before killing or attacking our community members. It was like a circus in our village of Duthuni because the people here and from the surrounding villages had never seen such a big crocodile. Taking pictures for social media was part of the excitement of the day in the village,” said Ligege.

The spokesperson for the Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (LEDET), Zaid Kala, warned community members to remain alert after the recent heavy rains. People are urged to refrain from crossing flooding rivers. Kala said that certain wildlife such as hippopotamuses and crocodiles usually migrated from heavily flowing streams in search of still waters for a habitat. During this migration, these animals are sometimes spotted near residential areas and considered a danger to society. Local authorities, such as the environmental rangers, should be notified immediately when dangerous animals like these are spotted within residential areas.

Upon enquiry of why the crocodile could not have been transferred to another location, rather than being shot, Kala explained: “Some wild animals are territorial. So, to merely transfer a dangerous wild animal from one habitat to another usually causes fights among the territorial animals within that habitat,” he said. “Experience has taught us that the transferred animal soon breaks out again and continues to cover long distances on foot, endangering communities in search of another habitat. Therefore, to transfer certain wildlife is not always a solution to ensuring community safety.”

 

 

Date:05 March 2021

By: Silas Nduvheni

Read: 2171

 

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