THATTA: People living in villages around Haleji Lake spent a sleepless night after an unknown number of crocodiles reportedly sneaked into nearby ditches and trenches on Thursday morning through crevices in the embankments in the wake of heavy rains, which raised water level of the natural lake.

Early on Friday, a group of people in Makke Dinu Jokhio village near Jungshahi town managed to rope in a crocodile, which had foraged into the village in search of food, after a risky operation to save them and their families from the beast.

They were pondering over the ways to get rid of it when an official of wildlife department and a policeman reached there only to get themselves photographed with the trapped reptile and take credit for the ‘successful rescue operation’, said villagers.

Overflowing lake enables the reptiles to come out of their sanctuary

They claimed that the reptiles occasionally made forays into nearby settlements. In recent past, they killed 11-year-old Ayesha and injured Baghal Jokhio, Ibrahim Mirbahar, Kallo Mirbahar, Maman Mirbahar and others, and dragged away 16 goats, two cows, one buffalo and a number of other cattle near the lake’s banks.

An official of the wildlife department, who was custodian of the reptiles, disclosed that seven crocodiles were released into the lake as a gift from then chief minister Mumtaz Ali Bhutto.

A source in the department disclosed on condition of anonymity that since the budget for the food of crocodiles was embezzled by the department, the volatile creatures remained hungry and did not wait to sneak into the nearby villages whenever they found an opportunity.

As per official statistics, about 200 marsh crocodiles inhabit the lake spread over 6.58 miles or nearly 1,700 hectares. It is known as birds’ paradise which is also abode of migratory birds from Siberia, coots, purple, moorhens, kingfishers and teals.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2022