Crocs on the loose after truck stopped on KZN highway
Investigations are under way after two of 3 000 juvenile crocodiles went missing when they broke loose from a truck that was stopped by N3TC officers on the N3 near Winterton, in KwaZulu-Natal.
The officers spotted the crocodiles looking out of the cargo hold as they drove past, and they stopped the truck. When the officers questioned the driver, they discovered the permit to transport the crocodiles had expired last month, Ladysmith Gazette reported.
It is believed chaos ensued, and some of the crocs, less than a metre long, managed to break free, and one was killed by a passing vehicle.
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife communications manager Musa Mntambo told The Citizen wildlife officers were searching for the two missing crocs.
Mntambo said the crocs did not pose a threat to nearby residents.
NSPCA Farm Animal Projection Unit manager, Andries Venter told The Citizen the unit was concerned about the welfare of these crocs and whether the two missing ones would survive or not.
Venter added the unit would investigate if standards to transport crocs had been met.
The crocodiles were being transported from Crammond, KwaZulu-Natal to Limpopo.
Last year, a giraffe was killed when it hit its head under a bridge in Pretoria in July.
Two giraffes were being transported north in a truck with their necks exposed when the bull hit his head on the Garsfontein bridge and died.
Eyewitness Thinus Botha, who took a snapshot moments before the incident happened, said he was driving behind the truck at 40km/h when he had a loud bang.
– Caxton News Service
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