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Adoption profile: Sheila

Adopting an animal is a fantastic way to support the work at Lilongwe Wildlife Centre, Malawi’s only wildlife sanctuary. SHEILA HAS NOW BEEN SUCCESSFULLY RELEASED BACK INTO THE WILD, WHERE SHE BELONGS. YOU CAN FIND OTHER ANIMALS TO ADOPT HERE. Sheila is an African Nile Crocodile. She has been a long-term resident of the Wildlife […]

Adopting an animal is a fantastic way to support the work at Lilongwe Wildlife Centre, Malawi’s only wildlife sanctuary.

SHEILA HAS NOW BEEN SUCCESSFULLY RELEASED BACK INTO THE WILD, WHERE SHE BELONGS. YOU CAN FIND OTHER ANIMALS TO ADOPT HERE.

Sheila is an African Nile Crocodile. She has been a long-term resident of the Wildlife Centre since it opened.

Her long-term companion was Bushdog who was born in 1995. Bushdog started life in a crocodile farm in Nkhotakota before becoming a zoo animal at the old Lilongwe Zoo across the road from us. When the Wildlife Centre opened and that zoo was closed, its resident animals were transferred to us. Bushdog was the last resident to be rescued, moving into her new, much larger enclosure. Sheila was rescued from a zoo at Mua Mission, where she stayed in a tiny enclosure for human entertainment. We are not sure how old she is.

When we first got them, we thought neither Bushdog or Sheila would ever be able to be released back into the wild as they had been in captivity for so long and had been fed by humans for most of their lives. But in March 2020, Bushdog proved us wrong after her successful release into Thuma Wildlife Reserve. Bushdog and Sheila always enjoyed each other’s company in our sanctuary. They spent their time sunbathing and cooling off in their pool. We are planning to reunite Sheila with Bushdog soon!

Bushdog, one of our crocs
Crocs Bushdog and Shiela LWC Summer 2019_LWC_sanctuary
Shiela Croc during COVID lockdown at LWC

Each Wednesday our animal care team lure Sheila out of the water with some big chickens to keep her busy while they clean the pond. Needless to say, our staff have to keep a watchful eye out and be prepared to make a speedy exit in case she decides to go back in for a dip!

https://www.lilongwewildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/Crocs-sleeping-Mar-2020.mp4