…Residents relive encounters with the giant predators
By Sijibomi Fatayo
Residents of Lagos who live close to swampy areas and at the fringe of canals now have to worry about the menace of pythons and other snakes, in addition to the pummeling they are getting from the economic recession.
The plight of people in the affected areas is made worse by the massive rainfall, which is causing the waterways and swamps to overflow as flood water raises the water level and washes in snakes and reptiles like alligators into swamps in low-lying areas close to residences. Naturally these reptiles, pythons and other snakes, invade the land in search of prey. Unsuspecting children and even adults have been exposed to risk of attack.
Imagine the shock that a family experienced one morning in September, this year, in Bucknor Estate, Ejigbo Local Council Development Area when a member of the family opened the goat pen and found a huge python lying in it with its stomach enlarged. The giant snake, it turned out, had during the night swallowed the two goats (a male and female) kept in the pen.
Recalling the incident, Mr. Samuel Igbokwe, told Sunday Sun that his young son, Amaechi was supposed to feed and tend to the goats with his mother after they got back from their shop the previous night. The boy had gone ahead when his mother instructed him to hold on so that she could bring a torch for them to see. As soon as the torch was switched on, the little boy saw a massive snake outside the goat pen, called out to his mother, and informed her that he saw a snake as big as a molded block outside.
When asked if he saw the head of the snake, the boy said he didn’t see it. This prompted his mother to reach the father on the phone and inform him of the clear emergency and he rushed home.
Continuing the tale, Igbokwe said: “I came back and we looked around, yet we could not see it. I asked them to buy fuel and we went round the house and the pen pouring petrol on the ground in the belief that the snake would be repelled by the smell, thereby forcing it to come out. Normally, we make fires in three places almost every night to keep reptiles away but that night we didn’t make any fire because of the fuel. Then we went to bed. As usual, very early in the morning, my wife went to attend to the goats. The sight she met upon opening the door of the pen was shocking. She saw a python as big as the trunk of a tree inside the goat pen; it had swallowed the two goats.”
After regaining composure, she called her husband who came out to see the snake, which could not move. As their shouts drew the neighbours to the house, the snake vomited the two goats in a bid to escape. The attempt was unsuccessful as the men killed it right inside the pen and brought out the dead body. But there was a humorous touch to the whole incident: while the people that gathered there were still discussing about the snake, somebody brought a sack to cart away the dead animals for sale. Filled with joy and gratitude, Igbokwe thanked God for saving his wife and son from the attack of the predator. He was, however, still perplexed as to how the snake entered the goat pen. He said that there was no opening big enough for such a massive snake to get into the pen.
Igbokwe revealed that one night about three years ago, he had killed a similar python in front of his wife’s shop. He said that most times, alligators come out from the swamp. Igbokwe pointed to several plots in the neighbourhood close to his house that were being developed, noting that swamp in the area would soon disappear as new houses are built.
Again, in Kirikiri Industrial Layout, another swampy area in Lagos metropolis, a 13-foot python was killed one Wednesday night in the premises of Happyhome Furniture, by staff of the company.
The snake, which weighed about 150kg was said to have found its way into the premises of Happyhome through holes made at the bottom of the brick wall to allow excess rainwater to flow out from the compound into the surrounding swamp in the area. Sunday Sun reporter gathered that the python was responsible for the loss of domestic animals in the area.
On the fateful Wednesday night, 22-year-old Saviour Friday, escaped the attack of the deadly snake by the whiskers. Saviour went to the premises of Happyhome to visit his elder brother.
Recounting what happened, Friday told Sunday Sun: “I thank God for my life. That Wednesday night about 9pm, I went to get some water for the staffers of the company, who pleaded with me to help them. I saw the snake on the ground. To me, it looked like a big plank. I passed it without a second thought. On my return, I slipped on the snake’s side and some of the water that I was carrying splashed on it. Immediately, the snake opened it eyes, it was partly green and yellow.
“Before I could shout, the snake wiggled its tail. I ran with all my strength. As I tried to run, the snake chased after me, I didn’t stop until I got to where people were. They rallied and gathered weapons to kill the snake.”
Sunday Sun had gathered that it took about 10 men, 50 minutes to kill the predator with only sticks and stones.
The Chief Accountant of the firm, Mr. Samuel Ogba, commended his men for their bravery, and urged the state government to develop the area.
“Such a deadly snake found its way into our premises through a swamp close to us. There might still be other snakes in the swamp. The only way our lives can be made safe is for the government to develop the environment,” he stated.
Residents of Abaranje, another swampy area in Ikotun/Igando LCDA, Lagos State, have been having regular encounters with snakes. The swamp is so large that a wooden bridge was constructed for people to cross over from one side to the other. After every downpour, buildings close to the swamp are affected as pythons and other smaller snakes invade the compounds. For instance, the dog of one family living at Better life, Abaranje suddenly disappeared. The family thought the dog just went out of the premises into the neighborhood. But after three days, it still had not been seen. Worried, they inquired from their neighbours if any of them had seen their pet dog and also went round calling out the dog’s name, but it didn’t appear. The next morning, Baba Mallam, a popular Hausa hunter, known for his prowess in catching wildlife for meat, was seen carrying a fairly large python with a part of its body projecting out. A man in the neighbourhood, Damilola and some other people questioned the hunter who said he found the snake in the bush, unable to move after having fed.
“When people gathered, we urged him to cut the snake open so we could see what it ate. To my surprise, it was our neighbor’s dog that we saw. It was already decomposing,” he said.
Mallam Baba who said he had been seeing snakes in the swamps, further disclosed that he kills them for people who would pay a good price for the meat.
Pythons continued their rampage in Ikorodu town, when people in Majidun were visited by a huge python. A group of young men gathered and killed it and sold it for N50,000 by the roadside. Similarly, another python was killed around a fish farm swamp and the picture posted online.
Shockingly, in Opebi, Ikeja, capital of Lagos State, which is built up, a python was killed in a bush. And in the Lekki/Epe axis of the state, pythons have been invading new construction sites as the real estate development frenzy continues to reduce their swampy habitats, thereby driving the pythons to make more contacts with humans in their search for prey.
In Mende, Maryland area, dredging activities close to Greenland Estate, has resulted in increased encounters with pythons, thereby stirring up fear among the residents. Mr Sola Adekoya, vice chairman of the estate association revealed that more than 15 pythons had been killed. He said that the guards who killed the snakes sold each one for N10,000.
A subscriber on the Nairaland website recounted that a man around the Abijo bus stop now makes a living from killing the pythons and selling them to passersby every day, as the meat has become a delicacy many Nigerians enjoy despite the cries that this specie of reptiles will go extinct with the way they are being killed and eaten.
Notwithstanding the worry about the supposed depletion of pythons, the awe of finding one on one’s doorstep or seeing one within the compound merrily swallowing a pet or domestic animal or an unwary child clearly justifies the declared war on people like Mallam Baba, who hunt them as game and sell the meat or skin for making exotic leather goods. Definitely, Friday who escaped the attack of the huge python that chased him at HappyHome Furniture company would readily agree that it is better to exterminate the pythons and turn their skins into leather rather than people or animals ending up in the belly of the predators.