PHOTO: CATHY GOULDER
LOAD shedding brought some extra concerns for a Meerensee family last Wednesday evening when their home was visited by a three-metre crocodile.
Alerted by dogs barking in the darkness, a walk to the front lawn of the Angler’s Rod yard revealed the toothy predator – far away from the nearest body of water, behind the LAC Centre.
The social call at around 7pm was all the more incredible for the fact that the reptile would have had to cross the extremely busy Krewelkring street in the suburb’s shopping sector to get to his peculiar destination.
Neighbours soon gathered to witness the spectacle and the Richards Bay police arrived but declined to make an arrest for trespassing.
However, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife District Conservation Officer, Frans Mthembu and his team soon had the croc captured and subsequently released into Lake Mzingazi before any harm could be done to man or beast.
Mthembu repeated the warning that all bodies of water in Zululand should be treated with caution – especially as dwindling water levels from the drought could mean crocs seeking new territory as habitat diminishes.
