The crocodiles lie in ambush along the village paths and pounce on the residents of Katwe village as they walk to fetch water, go to the market or children going to school. Others are clobbered while carrying out fishing on lake George and Edward.
Children fetching water from the lake. Such children are now prone to crocodile attacks following the drying up of the water source near the Lake that had been provided by Government.
Local officials said over 15 people had been killed by crocodiles in 3 months alone.
They have now appealed to both President Yoweri Museveni and parliament to come to their rescue.
“We appeal to the President and Parliament to Help us since UWA has refused to help us both to help the injured and the families of the affected” a local official told Eastafricanwatch.net Â
Joshua Baluku,7, sobs uncontrollably as he looks across the compound to the bank of Lake George, in Katwe village.
He was orphaned last month when a crocodile killed his mother as she was taking his nine-month old sister to a health centre for immunization.
The early morning attacked happened a kilometer away from home, but next to Baluku’s school, which is located a few metres away from the shores of lakes George and Edward.
“A woman made an alarm and we ran out of class. When I saw the baby clothes and the bag, I knew it was my mother. Only her leg was spared,” says Baluku amidst sobs.
The water cages where residents used to fetch water away from the crocodiles have now dried up The residents now live in fear following the increasing cases of attacks.
“Every member of the village is virtually a victim, any given time, we need help from government or shall mount an attack to revenge and also as safeguards” a local said.
People living around the lake shores in the sub-counties of Muhokya, Lake Katwe and Katwe-Kabatooro town council said that the crocodiles have started invading their homes and gardens in search of food.
The crocodiles brought in the area by Uganda Wildlife Authority 10 years ago have since multiplied and are invading homes and gardens in search of food since they may not have enough food such as fish on the lake.
Last week, Innocent Masereka, a 14-year-old pupil at Kahendero fish landing site was eaten by a crocodile as he was going fetch water. Â His head was found on a small island near the landing site.
“Crocodiles have increased in numbers and they do not have food so they have now resorted to invading our homes and gardens in search for food recently a woman was rescued from the jowls of the crocodile as she was cultivating in Katwe,” Muhamad Amri a fisherman in Kahendero says.
Fred Muhumuza, a fisherman says several residents are nursing injuries as a result of crocodilee says that over 12 people were killed by the crocodiles last year and others are not known by the residents since some are fishermen from Democratic Republic of Congo.
“It is common to find the remains of people floating on the waters because of the attacks by the crocodiles and of recent the crocodiles have increased in numbers,” says Muhumuza.
He says the incidents have created panic among the fishermen with some abandoning the activity in fear for their lives.
Jesca Biira, 41, a resident of Kahendero fishing village who was widowed in January 2017, after a crocodile attacked his husband as he was fishing recalls the nasty incident.
“My husband Steven Mwesige went fishing on January 14. That was the last time I saw him alive because in the evening I received the news that they had recovered his head floating on one of the islands in the lake,” she says.
depended on fishing as their main source of income.
“Life has completely changed. Three of the children are out of school. I cannot afford to pay their school fees,” Biira says.
Jackson Musinguzi, a marine Police officer attached to the landing site said recently during a crisis meeting at Katwe landing site that they are getting in touch with Uganda Wildlife Authority to help Police to relocate the deadly crocodiles from the area.
He says that many cases of crocodile victims go unreported as some of the people are unknown in the area.
However, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) spokesman, Bashir Hangi, said. “We are advising people to avoid areas where these man-eater crocodiles are,”
“Crocodiles stay in fish-breeding areas, but when the fish get depleted, they come on the surface and attack and eat humans.”
Last year a crocodile killed a Protestant pastor who was baptising followers near a lake in southern Ethiopia. Docho Eshete was then killed while conducting the ceremony for about 80 people on Sunday morning at Lake Abaya in Arba Minch town’s Merkeb Tabya district.
Residents and police then told BBC Amharic a crocodile leapt from the water during the baptism and attacked him. Pastor Docho died after being bitten on his legs, back and hands. Crocodiles are a threat almost globally especially if they are near human beings.
