With increased numbers of government officials patrolling the borders, migrants are forced to take desperate risks in seeking out more dangerous routes and methods of entry Since these deaths, also known as "environmental deaths", occur one or two at a time, they are rarely noticed However, these more dangerous alternatives are an increasing phenomenon worldwide at border patrol checkpoints
A recent University of Houston report estimated that 1,185 migrants died between 1994 and 1997 as they attempted to cross the border or evade border patrol checkpoints along the 2,000 mile USA-Mexico border. 14. This wave of environmental deaths is not limited to the USA. In South Africa, it was discovered that a pride of lions were responsible for eating a Mozambican man trying to cross illegally into South Africa. The lions were believed to be responsible for killing three other Mozambican In 1997, 11 people were eaten by wild animals trying to enter South Africa, including a woman and her two-year-old son. There are also reports of Zimbabweans trying to swim the Limpopo River being eaten by crocodiles.