Crocodiles and buffaloes displace families in central Mozambique

The district government of Marromeu, in central Mozambique, will transfer 1,500 families threatened by attacks from buffaloes and crocodiles at their places of residence, the leader of the local administration told Lusa on Thursday.

The local authorities recorded the death of three people because of attacks in the first quarter of this year, said Henriqueta de Rosario, the district administrator.

Buffaloes in the Marromeu Special Reserve, in the Zambezi River delta, invade residential areas, forcing the population to take refuge on the islands bathed by that watercourse.

However, as they seek refuge, they face the threat of crocodile attacks.

The animals also threaten agricultural land, and “the conflict between man and wildlife is a growing reality” in Malingapanse, said Henriqueta de Rosário, stressing that the area has become a zone “of distress: if not by buffaloes, it is by crocodiles.

“A lot of people are under threat,” Henriqueta de Rosario added, assuring that at least 400 people have already signed up for a voluntary resettlement initiative to leave the at-risk area.

Without giving the number of families displaced by the animals, the governor believes that when the resettlement is done, it will be possible to “diminish this conflict a little”.

The administrator admits that the population has occupied the animals’ habitat.

When resettling the population, she said, the government will strengthen social support with food baskets to ensure food for the displaced since the floods at the beginning of the year destroyed many fields and are causing food shortages.

On the other hand, the inspectors of the Marromeu Special Reserve have trained several people in the communities to use firecrackers to scare the animals away, considerably reducing the attacks.

With information from Lusa

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