We have been culling wild crocodiles since 1948 but are currently only allowed to shoot 250 crocodiles per year. Thomson said local residents insisted crocodile numbers had boomed over the past five years, but conservationists believed villagers were simply encountering the reptiles more often as their villages grew and as rural peasants began using wetlands for agriculture. Thomson stressed, however, that the mounting human toll left government with no choice but to begin exterminating crocodiles in the heaviest populated regions. The whole concept of conserving wildlife is that it should benefit local people. Thomson's view is shared by many who live along the Shire River and beside Lake Malawi.
Conserving crocodiles is the same as keeping serial murderers in a residential area.
Crocodiles and murderers are both the enemies of innocent people. They both attack and kill. Mkwakwa narrowly escaped death last month when a crocodile attacked him on a Lake Malawi beach. The crocodile grabbed him by the leg and, he said, began dragging him towards deep water. I screamed for all I was worth.