COURAGEOUS women have saved their friend in Luano district from being eaten by a crocodile after it grabbed her hands while she was drawing water on the banks of Lunsemfwa River.
Agnes Sakala, 36, was attacked by the crocodile on Monday around 07:00 hours but quick intervention from her friends, who were also drawing water, prevented the reptile from dragging her deep into the crocodile-infested river.
Luano district commissioner Christopher Chibuye, who confirmed the incident yesterday, said Ms Sakala of Chief Chembe’s area sustained injuries on both hands.
“The crocodile grabbed her hands, but other women fought back to prevent it from taking her away,” Mr Chibuye said.
He said Ms Sakala is admitted to Mkushi District Hospital where she is recovering.
Mr Chibuye said his office has been receiving reports of crocodiles attacking people around Lunsemfwa River.
Mr Chibuye said Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) officers have been deployed to the affected areas to protect the people.
He said the population of crocodiles in Lunsemfwa River has increased and, therefore, was need for ZAWA to crop the reptiles to protect the people who depend on the river for water.
“Incidents of people being attacked have increased and one of the solutions is to crop the crocodiles,” Mr Chibuye said.
He also urged people in affected communities to be alert when drawing water from the Lunsemfwa River.
C’mmon, gimme a break! Why always want to kill an animal each there’s a human-animal conflict??? Sink a borehole or provide piped water to avoid some of these conflicts.
Great news from the womenfolk. It shows they can do better than gossiping and withholding political and economic support for fellow women. Nawakwi should perhaps read this article and hope for their support.
#Biz why not just just fund the sinking of a bore hole instead of insulting the intelligence of the unfortunate villagers.Count yourself privileged because you don’t know what life is out there in that village.
@Red Equare
Read my posting again. I have not insulted anyone. FYI I have lived in a village and I’m proud of it. Like the people of Luano district, my village is on the river bank and we used to have the same challenges of crocodile and hippo attacks. Through CDF my village was able to sink four boreholes and later built a pump station at the river. We now have piped river water and boreholes servicing my village. The last incident of a woman caught by a crocodile was in 2008.
The onus is on the people of luano district to find lasting solutions instead of killing animals when they are just doing what nature intended them to do. If they have a useless MP, councilors or DC, let the get rid of them.
Biz,
I totally agree with you. We should remember that animals have a very strong sense of territory. When a crocodile sees a human being in the river where it lives, it may perceive that as an illegal trespass. It also sees that as an opportunity to have a human meal. In the crocodile world, that is very normal behavior. To avoid these animal-man conflict, let us encourage the construction of boreholes and/or the supply of piped water to people’s homes. Crocodiles have as much right to live in peace in their own environment just as much as we have in our own homes.
All what makes life easy like in the rest of the world is there in Zambia. But when I read that women still draw water from rivers and come into conflict with animals in their natural habitat in my beloved country, it makes me very sad.
Our politicians just love to travel the world over, send their children to schools abroad and talk about how orderly, beautiful it is. I wonder why it never occurs to anyone of them to copy that and bring it home?
If the government is going to light up villages as was in some article a while ago, they might as well use the electricity to pump water to the villages as well.
This is Zambia for you. Fifty years after independence no one should still be drawing water from rivers. Shame on us for keeping on voting for useless leaders and parties like PF. Zambia will never see development. This country is doomed!!
Is this the solution? Who’s the twat that came up with this ridiculous plot? You refuse to build infrastructure in communities that’s safe and does not require people going to draw water from the river. A simple solution than killing an animal. Why do we have people hired in these places. Do you really think this will curb the problem? Mulenga Sata is spending $500, 000 on a home in South Africa and Lungu fails to provide adequate infrastructure for these people saving them from the inevitable. Don’t let people tell you what to do, instead tell them what you want, and is expected. Everyone has a right to life and everyone owes a duty of care to someone. Its the governments responsibility to its people. Please learn to deal with the real issue at hand its certainly not the crocodile.