Ezemvelo: Municipality can kill crocodile

[Sprocky]

Johannesburg - The Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife has authorised the eThekwini Municipality to kill a crocodile which has been on the loose in uMngeni River near Durban's Windsor Park municipal golf course for the past year, the organisation said on Saturday.

"At the moment the crocodile poses a danger to the lives of people especially those who are just walking on the river banks," said organisation spokesperson Musa Mntambo.

"The crocodile may appear and people may, out of shock, jump into the river and then it would devour them."

However, Animal Rights Africa said the municipality should not shoot the crocodile.

Spokesperson of Animal Rights Africa, Steven Smith told SABC that Ezemvelo Wildlife had failed to do its job properly in protecting such animals.

Smith said there was more than just one reptile in the uMngeni River which proved that the river was their natural habitat.

"Any calls to have the animal killed are actually out of place and the council should look at the fact that those crocodiles have been in that river for a long time without any negative incident occurring," Smith told SABC.

"It just seems that there is this over reaction, if in anyway the animal is a threat to anybody then it should be captured and if they haven't then they are failing to do their job properly."

Mntambo disagreed saying they have done a lot to try and capture the crocodile.

"We have created many traps in uMngeni River for the crocodiles there, but the problem we have is that the crocodiles do not eat what is in our traps because seemingly there are many fishes that they feast on," he said.

Mntambo insisted that the crocodile was posing a danger to the community along the river.

He said KZN Ezemvelo Wildlife had not seen the crocodiles but received reports from people and the organisation would go to set up a trap for it but "nothing happened".

"The last person who saw the crocodile said it was about 2.5 metres to three metres long," Mntambo said.

No one knew where the crocodile came from but Mntambo said it could have come from any tributary river which joined uMngeni after heavy rains last year.


- SAPA

[iNdlovu]

The bait probably gets stolen by the communities please don't anyone get upset by my comment, it is meant as a joke.