Crocodiles - Are they today's burgeoning pets?

Growing up in the grimy lands of Gokwe, I witnessed three horrific incidents at a local dam from where our livestock used to drink water.

The dam, big as it was, had many crocodiles that often devoured villager’s livestock.

The first incident happened when a fellow friend, who was seated at the edges of the dam washing his hands, was splashed with water by a crocodile. He fell into the dam and got bitten on his right leg. It had to take our sacrifice to liberate our friend who was deeply in pain and struggling to break away.

The young crocodile ultimately gave up on its intended prey and to date, my friend still has the edifying scars of that reptile’s teeth.

The second event occurred when I was also watching my brothers take a bathe in the same dam. A crocodile attacked one of my brothers and tearing off his fleshy tissue in the abdomen. He still has the revealing scars inflicted on him that day.

The last one involved my dog - Killer. I watched in agony as it whined in pain, tumbling in and out of the deep water after a crocodile had got it while it cooled itself in the waters. That was the last time I saw my dog.

These are the events that I witnessed. Several others have been published in newspapers and magazines about people who would have been attacked by these vicious reptiles.

Rapidly increasing, however, in the leafy suburbs of Harare, are these reptiles, largely kept by people purportedly as pets in their ponds.

The Herald recently reported two incidents where these reptiles were discovered and allegedly kept by one businessman and a resident, for unknown reasons, in ponds behind their houses. What boggles one’s mind, is the similarities of the two incidents where the two crocodiles were discovered in the leafy suburbs of the city, and kept by eminent people.

But to imagine a crocodile at a home, where children and pets like dogs play freely, but unlike my friend and dog are not harmed is just but a mystery. The question that lingers at the back of people's minds is: Why does someone keep such a vicious and unpredictable reptile at home?

One Harare resident who refused to be named said while people should not be encouraged to keep dangerous species, let's be wary of unnecessarily suspecting people of harbouring sinister motives for us to peacefully co-exist with others in the community.

“Some of us are very suspicious and superstitious. We want to associate everything with witchcraft. It’s their pets, let it be so,” she said.

 Inspector Jessie Banda, the Officer-In-Charge Public Relations Department at Police General Headquarters shared the same sentiments, adding that it could simply be their ability to keep such reptiles that made people to rear them.

“People involved in these activities have money and sometimes have nothing better to spend it on. If we look at crocodiles, they eat lots of meat and these people buy it in abundance because they can afford to do so,” she said.

However, the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (ZINATHA)’s Mbuya Martha Katsande had a different view altogether. Although Mbuya Katsande did not associate the reptile to witchcraft, she said people needed to uphold their cultural beliefs and stick to those. She added that crocodiles were not only dangerous but also contained poisonous substances in them and maybe these people might be using the poison for unclear purposes.

“The reason why some areas are failing to receive rain is because we tend to do things not desirable in our culture. This is the reason why some regions are dry while others receive abundant rainfall,” she said.

Mr. Ronald Magora, a Sunningdale resident in Harare, said people had become so inventive that we cannot dispel the possibility of keeping the reptile for witchcraft purposes.

“Many creatures such as snakes, hyenas, jackals, and horses have been used by people as charms for the enhancement of their riches. So seeing someone keeping a crocodile as a pet, one can be excused for thinking that the “pet” is being kept for witchcraft or wizardry purposes,” he said.

Retired Major General Edward Mbewe, the Public Relations Manager for National Parks and Wildlife, said there has been an upsurge of people keeping crocodiles as pets, which they rear in their expansive yards. These people capture the crocodiles whilst they are still young but as they grow they tend to wander around and even sneak out to hunt for food when not well fed.

 “We as Parks and Wildlife are conducting a sweep-up operation to clear this upsurge. However, we are failing to detect where these reptiles are being kept. Although my office has been inundated with calls from members of the public, giving us tip-offs on people keeping crocodiles, it is however difficult to carry out a door-to-door search as this requires police assistance.

"It is an offence in terms of the Parks and Wildlife Act to for one to keep such harmful reptile without permits," he added.

He however said there has never been, in the Zimbabwean history, a success story of people who have managed to tame a crocodile because of their instinctive behaviour and unpredictability. He urged those who wanted to practice crocodile farming to first seek the licence from Parks and Wildlife offices.