Better way needed to deal with croc attacks

KOTA KINABALU: A better solution is needed than to catch and kill crocodiles whenever human-wildlife conflicts involving the reptiles happen. However, this is inevitable as crocodile attacks still occur on people living near the animals’ riverine habitat.

To counter this, the Tuaran Crocodile Park near here has opened the doors of cooperation to any public or private institution to carry out research to identify the best way to control the crocodile population and find an effective way to deal with human-crocodile encounter.

Its manager Engalbert Awing, 43, said the development of a crocodile conservation centre in Sabah is one of the best steps to overcome the issue. Apart from controlling the crocodile population, the centre seems to also be able to play a role in making good use of the predators.

He said crocodiles in Sabah have the potential to become a tourist attraction and be commercialised in the manufacturing industry if culling of the animal population is permitted to produce leather products from its hide.

Its meat is used for medicine, but all these need to be done in a controlled manner under the supervision of the authorities, Engalbert said.

Sabah has no hunting policy on crocodiles while Sarawak is still the only state which started licensed crocodile hunting in 2017.

“I have been working as a manager at this crocodile park since 2018 and this breeding experience convinced me that mere killing of these reptiles without further action is not the best way to stop crocodile attacks on the populace.

“A study needs to be done so that we can identify why such attacks happen, then take steps to ensure that they do not recur.

“After that, we can find a way to use this wildlife as a source of income to improve the socio-economics of the population,” he told Bernama.

Sharing his experience in handling crocodiles in the park, estimated at 2,000 in number since it opened in 2005, Engalbert said this aggressive wildlife is near-impossible to tame even if they are nurtured from day one of hatching.

“From the very first day of a hatchling, a crocodile already has the instinct to attack and bite, it cannot be tamed, not to mention growing up in its original habitat,” he said, adding that crocodiles can jump up to four metres high and are more aggressive when in the water.

Engalbert said the oldest crocodile at the tourism-based crocodile park and information centre is 80 years old, measuring 5.18m in length and weighing 1.3 tonnes.

He added that adult crocodiles are quite easy to care for because they eat only two to three times a week but new hatchlings require close care.

“Hungry predators are usually more aggressive and when fed six chickens can survive for a week to a month if there is not enough food,” he said, adding that female crocodiles will lay 35 to 45 eggs during the mating season between January and July.

Meanwhile, Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said that since 2019, a total of 117 crocodiles have been shot dead in the state, with 52 kills recorded in Lahad Datu followed by Sandakan (28), the West Coast (19), Tawau (11) and Kinabatangan (seven).

He said in the same period, the number of crocodiles that died in Lahad Datu was 14, Sandakan (three), Kinabatangan (nine), Tawau (11) and West Coast (five), while five were caught in Lahad Datu, 21 in Tawau and one in the West Coast.

Augustine said based on a three-year survey from 2017 to 2019, a total of 2,886 crocodiles inhabiting the rivers in Sabah were recorded and of that number, 1,386 were found in the Kinabatangan River.

“Most of the reptiles that inhabit the rivers are of the species Crocodylus Porosus (the most agressive of all species) or better known locally as the Copper Crocodile,” he said.

According to media reports, this year alone there have been several attacks by the man-eating beast including in Tawau on July 23, where the body of Addi Bangsa, 60, was found in the stomach of a reptile weighing over 800kg which was believed to have devoured the victim when he was boarding his boat to catch fish at 4am.

On Oct 24, at Ladang Maisang Sime Darby Sukau in Kinabatangan, the body of a man believed to have been mauled by a crocodile was found about 500m from the spot where the victim was reported missing while washing clothes and bathing on the banks of the Kinabatangan River.

On Sept 23, Yusri Dulpi, 20, went missing after a crocodile snatched him at Mantanani jetty in Kota Belud at about 10.30pm where the victim and his friend were fishing.