A woman has died after being attacked by a Crocodile on the island of Lolwe on the Ugandan part of Lake Victoria. Ruth Nyanzira, 35, was attacked and dragged into the lake while collecting water from the shore at about 6.30 pm on Saturday 12 January 2019, and could not be rescued by other villagers who tried to intervene by pelting the animal with stones and metal. Her remains were recovered by a fisherman the next day. Ms Nyanzira was seven months pregnant at the time of the attack.
The location of Lolwe Island on Lake Victoria. Google Maps.
Lake Victoria is home to a large population of Nile Crocodiles, Crocodylus niloticus,
which are considered to be a high risk to Humans in the area, with
frequent stories of fatal attacks in nations around the lake. A rising
Human population appears to be fuelling this conflict, with people
becoming more dependant on the lake for water, with many villagers calling for more governmental investment in
borehole-drilling projects, which will enable them to spend less time
close to the Crocodile-infested waters. This conflict has been particularly intense on Lolwe Island, where an eleven-year-old boy was killed by a Crocodile in September 2017, and 26 attacks were recorded in 2018.
Nile Crocodiles are considered to be of Least Concern under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, but are still protected in many countries, due to historic hunting which decimated populations in many areas. However, the rising number of attacks on Humans by the animals has led to calls for regulated hunting to be introduced to control the population.
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