NEW ERA (Windhoek, Namibia) 03 November 08 Villager Survives 2nd Crocodile Attack (Chrispin Inambao)
Windhoek: Lightning struck the same place twice, contrary to popular belief that an unusual personal event rarely happens in exactly the same way, when a villager who lost her fingers to a crocodile last week survived a second croc attack.
The luckless woman identified as Ma Mwale recently had her fingers ripped off when a crocodile attempted to drag her under the surface of a lake teeming with crocodiles. She narrowly escaped death when she survived another crocodile attack last week.
During the first attack, a crocodile that sprang from the river inflicted severe injuries to one of her hands as it ripped off her fingers and a metal bucket that she had intended to fetch water with.
But last week, had it not been for her daughter who escorted her to serve as a lookout for any signs of crocodiles, the woman would probably have joined the long list of people killed by crocodiles, said Chief Kisco Liswani III.
During the second attack, the woman narrowly escaped possible injury or death and ran to safety after her daughter, who spotted the crocodile on time, warned her as it readied to pounce on her.
The Masubia chief narrated: “She is very, very unfortunate. She has barely recovered from the first crocodile attack and she had to endure another traumatic ordeal at Lake Mutwi.”
“There has been a drastic increase in the crocodile population and they are a source of human suffering and they instil so much fear among communities living alongside the river,” said the chief, who has lost stock to crocodiles that target both cattle and humans.
He said many rural dwellers resident at settlements along the banks of the Zambezi River stretching from Musanga to Impalila Island are among the worst affected by crocodile attacks.
The chief elaborated on his remarks about an escalation in human/animal conflict involving these reptiles saying last week, game rangers gunned down three crocodiles suspected to have caught and eaten a girl that disappeared by the riverside.
“When they had cut open one of the beasts, sure enough, they found human remains believed to belong to the girl. And one of the gunned crocodiles was so huge that it took 10 men to handle,” he said in a telephone interview while at one of his kraals near the river.
Recent weeks have seen an upsurge in human/animal conflict in Caprivi particularly at villages near crocodile-infested Zambezi and Chobe rivers.
The crocodiles continue to deprive villagers of their most valued earthly possessions – cattle.
These ancient predators with bone-crunching jaws not only kill livestock but are also a source of untold grief to families whose members they catch on the riverside.
The chief re-echoed that previous promises by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism to create a game trust fund through which proceeds from culled troublesome animals could be paid to the victims’ family members has so far not been implemented.
He said the ministry previously informed communities that troublesome animals such as crocodiles would be hunted by trophy hunters and the money used as compensation to the affected communities and surviving family members of those who perish in crocodile attacks.
http://www.newera.com.na/page.php?id=10079
Villager Survives 2nd Crocodile Attack