Leaders demand croc cull
08/03/2009 19:26 - (SA)



Kampala - Leaders of a Ugandan district along the crocodile- infested shores of Lake Victoria have ordered the cull of all the area's reptiles, after 20 people were killed in 2008 and another seven killed since the beginning of 2009, government-sponsored radio said on Sunday.

The radio Bukedde FM quoted Mayuge district officials as saying that they have ordered people to hunt down the crocodiles and kill them because the state-owned conservation body the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) "has not heeded the peoples outcry."

UWA officials however blame the crocodile-human confrontations in the district on dwindling lake resources and are advising villagers to support a government programme to put the reptiles on farms.

UWA executive director Moses Mapesa said there was stiff competition between humans and the reptiles.

"I can understand the anguish of people when the crocodiles kill or injure them, but life on earth has to be shared between all organisms. Crocodiles never get out to hunt for man but man goes into the lake to get fish and he conflicts with those reptiles," Mapesa said.

Mapesa added that UWA officials have been advising people on safety around the lake and have provided guidelines on setting up crocodile farms as a source of income.

- DPA

I wonder if he really told them to kill all the crocs and make it snappy.

hell, i would love to do a croc cull hunt. i enjoyed my croc hunt last year in Moz. more than just about any other hunt in Africa i have taken. it was certainly one of the most difficult. they are unbelievably wary ( at least the big ones).

I join that cull hunt as well!