About 15,000 crocodiles swam to freedom from a South African reptile farm in flood waters this week, according to Reuters. This took place over the past weekend, where Jews around the world read the Torah portion of Beshalach, which includes the plague of the frogs. Some commentators believe the frogs mentioned there were actually crocodiles.
“There used to be only a few crocodiles in the Limpopo River. Now there are a lot,” Zane Langman, whose relatives own the Rakwena Crocodile Farm in northern South Africa, near the Botswana border, told the Beeld newspaper.
Only half of the runaway crocodiles had been recaptured, according to the report.
The farm gates were opened for fear that the gushing flood water would crush the crocodiles.
One crocodile which could be from the farm was captured some 75 miles away, at a school rugby field.
Heavy rains and flooding have claimed at least 20 lives in Mozambique and South Africa and led to the evacuations of thousands.