By Matthias Mugisha
The mood at the Uganda Wildlife Authority head office in Kamyokya was sombre yesterday.
The officer in charge of problem animals, Vanice Mirembe, said they were mourning the death of a 750kg male crocodile believed to have eaten nine people, a cow and a pig without leaving any evidence.
Its motionless and mutilated body, lay in a green pick-up truck in the parking yard. It’s private parts, nose, tail and parts of its eyes had been chopped off by suspected witches in Mukono.
The crocodile, believed to be in its mid- thirties, was shot dead by a vermin control officer on Wednesday morning at Kigaya landing site in Busagazi parish, Mukono district.
The villagers immediately started cutting off some of its parts for use in witchcraft. Women cut off its nose and private parts to be used in concoctions believed to attract men and make them (women) sex goddesses.
A woman, who preferred anonymity, said the women rub the concoctions in their private parts and wear some in the obutiiti (loin beads) as an aphrodisiac.
The woman added that a man who has sex with such a woman gets addicted to her.
Mirembe said the substance from the crocodile’s eyes is believed to change tough bosses into humble people before their juniors.
“People believe your boss can shake with fear and promote you because of the look in your eyes after rubbing this substance in your eyes,” she said
Uganda Wildlife Authority was planning to relocate the crocodile before it was killed.
“We had plans of relocating it. We had taught the villagers how to attract it to a certain area using baits. But when it showed up, they contacted the vermin control office instead,” Mirembe narrated in her office.
She said the locals claimed that the crocodile had eaten nine people, a cow and a pig over an unspecified period of time. The last victim was allegedly devoured three days before it was shot.
By yesterday morning, the carcass was due to be taken to Makerere University faculty of Veterinary Medicine for study purposes.
Ends