By CHUSA SICHONE –

.Banda

THE Ministry of Tourism and Arts has deployed officers to Lusaka’s Garden Township sewerage ponds to ensure the safety of residents from crocodile attacks.
Officers from the department of National Parks and Wildlife have been deployed to protect residents from potential attacks by crocodiles which have been spotted in the area.
Their mission was to either move the crocodiles from the ponds to Ngwerere stream where they were suspected to have come from in pursuit of fish, or eradicate them before they pounced on people in the area.
Tourism and Arts Minister Charles Banda said the Wildlife department officers, who were working closely with their Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company counterparts, were keeping vigil at the ponds for some days but had not yet spotted any crocodile yet.
“We are keeping vigil and should the crocodile’s presence persists, we will have no option but to destroy them because they might be a danger to the population around. You know, those reptiles are not friendly, they are actually wild, and are not tamed, so anything can happen,” said Mr Banda.
The Minister expressed concern that people’s lives in the area were in danger because most residents utilise the sewer ponds.
It is suspected that the crocodiles found their way into the sewer ponds through the sewer pipes that carry water into the Ngwerere stream.
Residents of Garden Township recently reported spotting a crocodile on the banks of the sewer ponds.