Bushdog's Big Day!

At the end of 2007, the Lilongwe Nature Sanctuary Zoo, across the road from our centre, waved goodbye to it's final resident; Bushdog the Nile Crocodile.

Bushdog had come to the Zoo from a crocodile farm in Nkhotakota that had gone out of business in the early 90's. During the 12 or so years that he had spent in his small zoo cage, the staff that knew his story had moved on, so little else is known about him. The zoo staff couldn't even tell us if he was male or female!

Moving Bushdog the small distance from the zoo to his new enclousre at the Wildlife Centre was no small feat. With the Guidance of an experienced crocodile catcher from the Department of Parks & Wildlife, it took a group of 15 Wildlife Centre staff and volunteers.

First of all, a rope was slipped over Bushdogs head and one front leg. He was then allowed to thrash and roll until so exhausted that a smaller rope could safely be placed over his jaws and tied tight. Although this sounds a traumatic procedure, it is by far the quickest way to move a crocodile of this size and no harm came to him during the capture. A towel over his eyes then rendered him calm and allowed the rest of the team to carefully tie his powerful back legs and carry him to the truck. At 3 metres in length, it took all our collective strength to carry him!

After the 10 minute drive, Bushdog was carried into his new home. Before untying him he was checked over to see that he was in good shape and in order to determine his gender. This was done by feeling inside a slit on the underbelly. Our crocodile expert felt the small protuberance within which showed that Bushdog was male.

When we were satisified that all was well with Bushdog, all the ropes were removed, before finally taking off the towel covering his eyes. In under a minute, he was in his pond and has been happily settling into his new surroundings ever since.