Mozambique: Authorities want to collect reptile eggs to control numbers

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Mozambique: Authorities want to collect reptile eggs to control numbers

12:51 CAT | 09 Apr 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

At least 11 people died in the first quarter in Manica province, central Mozambique, in attacks by reptiles such as crocodiles and snakes, with the authorities considering collecting eggs to stop the growth of these species.

“This year, unfortunately, we have had a slightly high number (…) of 11 deaths, two more than the same period last year. This is very worrying for us. We are talking about snake bites and crocodile bites,” provincial director of Territorial Development and Environment in Manica, Rafael Silvestre Manjate, told reporters yesterday.

Manjate cited Bárue and Mossurize as loci of these attacks, with local authorities proposing collecting the reptiles’ eggs as a form of population control.

“It is important that we start collecting reptile eggs. We have a very high number of reptiles. For example, the Zambezi River is a very serious issue (…). The issue of collecting eggs is so that we can control the births, we feel that we have excessive reptile births. Crocodiles have a very large number of young, so this activity is important,” added Silvestre.

Manjate asked for the “green light” to be given at “central level” to move forward with the measure, “as a way of reducing the number of births and safeguarding the lives of other animals”.

The most recent attack in Manica occurred in Vanduzi, where three siblings, aged 11, 15 and 17, were dragged into the Tembwe River by a crocodile. One of them is still hospitalized in Chimoio.

The number of deaths due to attacks by wild animals in Mozambique almost tripled in 2023 to 159 victims, according to a report by the National Statistics Institute (INE), reported last September by Lusa.

In the 2023 Basic Environmental Indicators report, the INE detailed that the number of deaths due to human-wildlife conflict was 58 in the previous year and 56 in 2021, but 97 in 2020 and 42 in 2019.

More than half of the fatal attacks in 2023 took place in Tete province (70), followed by Zambezia with 31. Only Sofala and Nampula did not record any fatalities.

The province of Tete alone has recorded 137 deaths since 2019, according to INE historical data.

The report added that the number of people injured in these attacks also continued to grow, affecting 114 people in 2023, compared to 70 in the previous year, 51 in 2021, 66 in 2020 and 59 in 2019.

Source: Lusa