GWEMBE district commissioner Alice Mwiinga has called on the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) to crop crocodiles and hippos which are attacking people and destroying crops in the area.
Ms Mwiinga said in an interview yesterday that residents are living in fear of being attacked by crocodiles and hippos because the population of wild animals has grown.
She is concerned that two people have been killed by crocodiles this month and hippos are also destroying crops.
“Hippos and crocodiles are regularly heading into villages to destroy crops and attack the locals,” Ms Mwiinga said
She has called on Government to urgently address the human-animal conflict in the area.
“We have a big problem of animal-human conflicts here…the incidents have reached an alarming level, people are living in fear, they are attacked on daily basis, the animals are getting too close and causing destruction,” Ms Mwiinga said.
She also said pupils who walk long distances to their schools face challenges because they are afraid of being attacked by wild animals
Ms Mwiinga also said hunger is looming in Gwembe because hippos are destroying crops.
She, however, commended Government for distributing over 160 metric tonnes of relief maize to avert hunger in Gwembe
Ms Mwiinga also said small-scale farmers who have benefited from the Farmer Input Support Programme are grateful to Government.