Dar es Salaam snake yet to be located

Officials of the ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources are yet to locate the python that is believed to have escaped into the sprawling Keko-Mwanga estate in Dar es Salaam on July 29.
Most residents were yesterday deeply worried as no one had officially informed them about the snake’s disappearance.

The information about the missing three- meter python was only beginning to reach them after it was reported in the media.The snake is between two and three years old.

The snake that can eat small animals and even babies went missing from the ministry’s headquarters. It reportedly escaped from its cage where it was being held in preparations for a journey to the Nane Nane show that ends tomorrow in Dodoma.

Yesterday, the residents blamed the ministry for not quickly alerting where the snake was possibly hiding. Unconfirmed reports indicated that the reptile had been spotted but escaped before game wardens arrived.

A deputy director of wildlife, Mr Obedi Mbangwa, confirmed yesterday in Dar es Salaam that the snake was yet to be found and 15 game scouts were still looking for it.

However, he refuted reports that no information had been circulated to the residents.

But resident Ummy Shamte said she had been unaware of the incident until yesterday.
“I have just heard this from you now, would you please brief me about the incident? I simply heard it from the pupils passing around here and no more details,” she said.

But Mr Joseph Ngede said the ministry personnel had passed the message to some residents.

When reached for comment Keko Magurumbasi Primary School headteacher Mercy Nakajumo said the school had no official information about the snake.

“I heard it over the radio and other people have been speaking about it. I could not even tell pupils because I don’t have official information,” she said.
“I was frightened when I heard that there was a snake near our school, but teachers have not been told about it,” she said.

African pythons normally eat crocodiles, pigs, goats, birds, gazelles and cats. They do not chew their food but swallow it, and strong intestinal acids ease digestion.

Experts say the python that escaped could get hungry and start looking for food a week since it was last fed before it escaped.However ministry sources allay fears that it can swallow a human being.

Source: The Citizen

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