Environmental Affairs Minister Harry Thomson said a surge in crocodile numbers in the Chikwawa and Nsanje districts and along the Shire River had resulted in a spate of deaths and injuries amongst local villagers. We know there is a worldwide ban on crocodile hunting but have no choice because these animals are causing havoc. The Nile crocodile, which has always occurred naturally in southern Lake Malawi and on tributaries of the Zambezi River, was declared an endangered species after ruthless hunting for its skin earlier this centaury pushed it to the verge of extinction in Malawi. 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's views are 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.