Mozambique army puts elephants in sights

September 17 2007 at 04:16PM

Maputo - The Mozambican government on Monday authorised soldiers to gun down wild animals who are seen as a threat to human beings after a new report highlighted an increase in the number of deadly attacks.

"The number of people killed by wild animals keeps increasing," said the government-sponsored report which found that around 300 people had been killed in the last decade.

Elephants and crocodiles were responsible for most of these deaths, said government spokesperson Luis Covane.

"The government has therefore decided to authorise the armed forces to intervene to defend the resident population, particularly in dangerous regions, against attacks by wild animals," he said.

A campaign to collect crocodile eggs began last month in the River Zambezi basin in a bid to control population numbers.

I wonder how many of those army folks will get taken and eaten by crocs as they gather the eggs in the Zambezi River Basin?!

The army will probably force the locals to gather the eggs while they watch from under a tree with their AK's. Either way that's OK. Doubt there are more Croc's and Elephants than Bi-pedal types.

Lets see how many hunters would be willing to pay a $1000.00 US per day to have a field day with ele's and crocs with unlimited numbers over 5 days ???

I suppose that would be cheaper and more beneficial than sending in the army.