Placido Hilukilwa
FAIRY tales about people secretly keeping strange creatures as inheritance and source of a clan’s spiritual powers, have resurfaced in the north.
This follows after the Namibian Police requested people who are illegally keeping tortoises and other protected species to hand them over to nature conservation, apply for permits or face arrest.
Inspector Anna Kunga of the Namibian Police in the Omusati Region said that at least two people were arrested in the region since last year for keeping tortoises in their homes without a permit.
The latest incident was reported recently when five tortoises were found in a homestead.
“The most common excuse that is presented is that they (the suspects) did not know that what they were doing was unlawful,” she said.
She urged all those who own tortoises and other protected species to apply for permits or simply hand the creatures to nature conservation before it is too late.
An ages-old fairy tale, still believed by some, suggests that there are clans who secretly own strange creatures that serve as the clan’s source of spiritual power.
These creatures are supposedly inherited from generation to generation.
But Kunga disagrees.
She said that people who keep such creatures either consider them as pets or breed them for food, but not as inheritance or source of spiritual power as believed by some.
