15-foot, 300-400kg male crocodile captured in Batang Krian

Officers handling the massive crocodile captured in Batang Krian during the Crocodile Population Reduction Operation on Dec 16, 2025. Photo: IPD Saratok

By DayakDaily Team

SARATOK, Dec 17: A massive male crocodile weighing an estimated 300 to 400 kilogrammes and measuring around 15 feet long was successfully captured in Batang Krian after taking bait set during the Crocodile Population Reduction Operation.

In a TVS news, Saratok District Police chief DSP Mathew Manggie said the capture occurred on the third day of the operation, around 4pm, after police received information from residents of Kampung Kupang longhouse that one of the baits had been taken by a crocodile.

He explained that the operations team tracked the reptile and successfully brought it ashore.

“The captured crocodile has been identified as a male estuarine crocodile,” he said in a statement today.

The crocodile’s carcass was stored at the operations centre before being handed over to a licensed crocodile hunter for further action and properly recorded according to prescribed procedures.

Mathew added that the operation, conducted from Dec 14 to 23, involved 18 personnel from the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) Sarawak, Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM), Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC), and Peoples’ Voluntary Corps (Rela).

The operation focused on Kampung Kupang and the upper reaches of Batang Krian following a rise in crocodile sightings that raised safety concerns among local residents.

“On the first day of the operation, no captures were made, but monitoring estimated around 178 crocodiles in the area. On the second day, nine baits were set at several locations along the Krian River,” he added. — DayakDaily