NIle Crocodiles in the Kruger

Existence for a good long time
250 million years
Creation got it right first time
But now apparently there are some tears
What is an amazing predator
Is falling foul it seems
Dying on the sandbanks
With, unfulfilled dreams

They are very grounded souls
Fearing nothing, they
Are very quick to murder
But lay dormant all the day
In the Kruger National Park
They appeared to fall like flies
In Oliphant gorge for some unknown reason
Crocs of every size

Suddenly took to dying
And looking at them they
Didn’t have any enemies
So who was making them pay
There was no outer damage
Their potentiality
Was amazing so much life force
So how could this all be

The keepers and the experts
Rallied for they knew
What ever was killing all these crocs
Though they were clueless to
The cause they knew whatever it was
They had to really try
And get to the bottom of all of this
Before more crocs did Die

Environmental pollution
Die offs maybe but where
Apart from all these crocodiles
They just were unaware
Of what could be the answer
The need was then to find
To carry out autopsies
So as not to be so blind

They looked into their stomachs
And noticed rapidly
That their fat deposits were yellowing
They all collectively
Had developed a condition
Which curtailed their movement so
Creating possibly a lot of pain
Which crucially did grow

But why had it, suddenly happened
It was quite a quiz to see
One after another these ancient beasts
Dying in purgatory
These monolithic monsters
Were really everywhere
Flaking out and dying
It was driving people spare

Then it was discovered it was
Pansteatitis and they
Wondered how the crocs had caught it
There had to be a way
But with very little evidence
It became a mystery
That needed a lot of extra work
To see how this could be

It was thought it could be algal blooms
From pollution way up stream
That had some legs but they were not sure
Nothing is what it did seem
They decided they would check the crocs out
At night check and tag
They were trying to find out where they sourced
Their food to find a flag
Somewhere quite a puzzle they caught
A lot and found
That actually the crocs were sick
Which again, did astound

The keepers of their castle
To know that way out there
Was something killing crocodiles
The supreme ones who did share
The river the gorge the sandbanks
Something was now not right
They were living with this vile disease
Something in plain sight

They had been born survivors
With immune systems that were
Altogether wonderful
The millennia confer
to this
Their true existence establishes this fact
And now with so many dying
It was so hard to react

There were mining and manufacturing
Plants down stream that was true
So they analysed the water
To see if that might do
Something to the animals
But although it was found to be
A great cocktail of chemicals
It was not apparently

The problem back to the drawing board
Close by in Mozambique
A dam had been erected
And really as we speak
More sediment was reaching the river
Roundabout
With deaths now at a peak
More silt and thus more water
Again a lot more doubt

They thought it led to cannibalism
Sick crocs were eating those
Dead or dying crocodiles
Underneath their nose
And perhaps that caused
An acceleration of their disease too
So they set to work to clear the dead
And do what they must do

The deaths surely diminished
They sacrificed some HIPPO
And fed the crocs on their meat
Though fatalities were minimised
Still it did unseat
The numbers some still died in fact
And they then realised
As the weather changed to winter
And it got colder it surprised

Them all because the crocs
Were dying once again they saw
The figures rising steadily
More and more and more
What were the crocs consuming
Cat fish they could see
Massive Giants at the bottom
Of the rivers so a key

To really understanding
It was cat fish foraging and
On the bottom of the river where
All this extra sand
And silt was becoming thicker
And sick cat fish would then be
Easy prey for sick crocodiles
And cold weather tends to be

Very very stressful and the dam
Created flow
More water covering sand banks
Where crocodiles lay low
So additional stress was evident
And the crocs just could’t be
Eating a stressful diet
And not lying comfortably

The sluice gates had raised levels
The Massinger Dam would be
Partly causing stress of course
And few places to lay Free
So crocs shut down their mechanism
To help them beat the stress
Unsaturated fatty acids
Lacking VITAMIN E no less

We are all part of the great big whole
Each creature big and small
Remember the old song we sang
The Lord God made us all
Whether you believe that or not
You really have to feel
Each soul touches each soul
And that my friends is real

Behold the greatest predator
Can be cut down In flight
By a bug the size of a pinhead
And lots of bright white light
Arrogance is a fault of man
And ignorance as well
NATURE has the answers
Has the heaven and the hell

And it’s up to us to realise
Our mother is out there
To balance all the components
And as long as we all share
What we were all put there to share
Not steal some away
Then everything’s is kept in balance
Every single day

Hunters kill and brutalise
The order they destroy
Each animal has its path in life
One that leads to joy
The young the old all have their plAce
And it’s not for us to say
We want to come and blow a certain
Group now clean away

The domino’s fall and imbalances
Happen and we see
Knock on effects that harm us all
Detrimentally
We must all have faith in Nature
The great mother nurtures those
Who seek out and are respectful
To her as this story shows

Knocking out the predator
Is a harmful state for they
Are created in the scheme of things
And everyone does play
A vital part in balancing
A fusion of the whole
Man unkind so deliberate
Is truly a lost soul

About Rex Tyler

I love animals. I enjoy writing poetry and delivering speeches.I like to mentor people who need help in preparing speeches and evaluations.I enjoy travel although it is much harder for me these days.I so enjoyed the Andes Mountains and Volcanoes and the Quichua people who live and thrive there.I have lots of friends around the world.
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