KUCHING: Seventy-three crocodile attacks on human beings have been recorded since 1990, 33 of them fatal, says Special Functions Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem.
“The increase in crocodile population has subsequently led to conflicts with humans, especially those depending on rivers for their livelihood and transportation,” Adenan said in his winding-up speech yesterday.
He said the government had taken proactive steps to resolve the issue by implementing educational and awareness programmes with the local communities, putting up crocodile warning signs at sites known to be infested with crocodiles and culling operation at rivers with high crocodile population.
“The capture and culling of crocodiles from their natural habitats are part and parcel of the wildlife management, yet these are often viewed negatively by certain groups of people,” he said.
Adenan said the recent International Crocodile Conference (ICC) in Kuching was organised to share and gather ideas on resolving the human-crocodile conflict.
Among the resolutions of the ICC are to come up with a standard and monitoring programme and to establish a comprehensive database; to determine the strategy to downgrade crocodile status from Convention on International Trade in Engendered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) Appendix I to CITES Appendix II; to prepare sufficient allocation for long term management and monitoring crocodile population; to prepare safety guidelines for river users and to ensure that crocodile management plan would benefit local communities
Posted on Borneo Post November 23, 2011, Wednesday
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Body of croc victim found
Team effort: Search and rescue personnel getting ready to look for Sulaiman on Saturday. (Inset) Sulaiman’s wife Fatimah Entigu weeping inside their home at Kampung Melayu Roban on the day of the attack. — The Star 19.9.11KUCHING: The body of missing fisherman Sulaiman Abdullah, a victim of a crocodile attack at Sungai Sebelak, has been found.
A group, part of the village search team, found the victim’s body at around 8pm yesterday, about 3km upstream from the spot where he was attacked.
“The villagers found Sulaiman and his body was intact,” Saratok police chief DSP Lee Thai Lein told The Star last night.
He said the body was now at Saratok Hospital awaiting post mortem
Earlier, police said their priority was to look for the body.
DSP Lee confirmed that the search had been reclassified from rescue to retrieving the 66-year-old’s “corpse”.
“Police, Fire and Rescue Department personnel and members of the People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) are going back upstream as we speak. Crocodiles are not close to the open sea.
“We are going up, where the water is muddy and black, that’s where the crocodiles like to be,” he said.
He added some villagers were also taking part, although officially they were not encouraged to.
“It is very sad news and we are doing our best to help those who are in need,” he said, when asked about the stormy weather that hit Saratok late Saturday night.
“The thunderstorm affected our search. It rained very heavily around midnight.
“The downpour also came around 9am (today). The wind was strong.”
Sulaiman, from Sibu and who came to Kampung Melayu Roban — about 150km from his home town — to become a fisherman, was attacked on Saturday at roughly 4.30am.
According to his son Endoi Sulaiman, 41, who was in a second boat, Sulaiman was dragged under by a crocodile swiftly and in near total darkness.
Endoi said his father was finishing up the early morning’s work, pulling a protective canvas over some 3kgs of fish and shrimps, when tragedy struck.
Villagers, who went on an unofficial search immediately after, claimed they saw Sulaiman in the mouth of a crocodile along Sebelak River around 9.30am. Villagers did not believe Sulaiman to be alive by then.
Under state laws, crocodiles are protected species. Rescuers do not have permission to shoot and kill unless they are under attack.
As a protected species, only the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) can lead a culling operation, and even then, only if there are recent reported cases of attacks.
SFC will lead the culling mission and it can also appoint personnel from relevant agencies to take part.
On Saturday, DSP Lee told The Star police would use “common sense” to retrieve the body.
Asked again yesterday whether they would shoot and kill, he gave the same “common sense” answer.
“That is all I can say. Our job now is to retrieve the body. We are not on a hunt, I want to make that very, very clear. That’s not what this is about,” DSP Lee said.
Sulaiman is believed to be the second Saratok resident to fall prey to crocodiles this year.
In May, Mankay Gohen, 42, from nearby Kampung Empelam was killed after he was also dragged into Sebelak River by a crocodile.
After Mankay’s death, a crocodile culling operation was launched, lasting a week, which resulted in the killing of just one crocodile. That operation was headed by the Saratok police chief.
The culling mission was controversial. Animal lovers and nature groups voiced their dissatisfaction with the operation.
This month, even SFC personnel, during a workshop for villagers near Niah, advocated “crocodile watching”, instead of crocodile culling.
The family of Sulaiman is urging authorities to restart culling. The victim’s son, Endoi, who is also a fisherman, said culling should be carried out periodically.
“I think they can do it once a week,” Endoi told reporters on the day of the attack, adding operations could not be on a daily basis.
“That (if operations were too frequent) would affect our fishing as well.”
Friday, July 15, 2011
Kampung Reban folk vow to hunt killer crocodile
KUCHING: Apparently the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) was not aware of the hunting and killing of crocodiles in Batang Samarahan, following the killing of a man from Kampung Reban, Serian by the reptile last year.
It was reported that so far three crocodiles had been killed since the fatal attack on the 66-year-old victim, identified as Sidi Samad, while fishing for prawns on December 18.
It was also said that the villagers had vowed to continue their hunt for the crocodile that mauled and devoured the elderly man, even if they have to kill each and every crocodile in Batang Samarahan.
So far they have caught three and disemboweled them except that it was unclear if they had captured the correct man-eater.
SFC when contacted yesterday was greatly shocked when informed about the hunting and killing of the protected reptiles.
“Do you have the evidence of the hunting?”
Its senior officer said to The Borneo Post in disbelief, who understood that such reaction was natural for anyone with a duty to protect and conserve endangered wildlife and in this case the crocodiles.
Obviously he was not suspecting that the villagers would go all out to hunt down the killer crocodile even to the extent of executing the innocent ones, especially when a licence was required even for the capture of crocodiles.
To hunt, capture or kill any protected animal is illegal under the Wildlife Protection Ordinance where offenders can be charged in court and are subject to penalty.
Nevertheless, under the present circumstances, it was unclear whether those responsible for the execution of the crocodiles in Batang Samarahan would be facing any action from the authority concerned.
SFC also could not reveal whether any license was ever issued to the villagers to hunt, capture and kill the man-eater crocodile in Batang Samarahan.
Whatever it is, the hunting had been condemned by environmentalists, saying that the hunt should stop because the tragedy was not the crocodile’s fault.
Here it was about who to blame. Should the blame be on humans or the reptiles, with some people saying that crocodiles would only attack people to defend themselves while others said that animals were always animals, with some known to be notorious in nature.
Some studies on the characteristics and behaviours of crocodiles however, revealed that crocodiles would not harm humans unless they were hungry or being threatened.
In the recent case, it was however, not established whether the crocodile had mauled the victim because it was desperate for food or its habitat had been ‘encroached’.
But both are equally possible because after most areas near the river banks were cleared for development there were also less wild animals for crocodiles to feed on
and when desperately looking for food, they will feed on any meat that they can find.
On the other hand, it could also be possible that the crocodile had behaved notoriously when it sensed that its territory had been intruded, although there was never any intention on the part of the human being to disturb them.
However, animals are always animals. There will not be a time that they can think like human beings and in many cases even man also could not judge between right and wrong.
January 4, 2011, Tuesday Borneo Post
It was reported that so far three crocodiles had been killed since the fatal attack on the 66-year-old victim, identified as Sidi Samad, while fishing for prawns on December 18.
It was also said that the villagers had vowed to continue their hunt for the crocodile that mauled and devoured the elderly man, even if they have to kill each and every crocodile in Batang Samarahan.
So far they have caught three and disemboweled them except that it was unclear if they had captured the correct man-eater.
SFC when contacted yesterday was greatly shocked when informed about the hunting and killing of the protected reptiles.
“Do you have the evidence of the hunting?”
Its senior officer said to The Borneo Post in disbelief, who understood that such reaction was natural for anyone with a duty to protect and conserve endangered wildlife and in this case the crocodiles.
Obviously he was not suspecting that the villagers would go all out to hunt down the killer crocodile even to the extent of executing the innocent ones, especially when a licence was required even for the capture of crocodiles.
To hunt, capture or kill any protected animal is illegal under the Wildlife Protection Ordinance where offenders can be charged in court and are subject to penalty.
Nevertheless, under the present circumstances, it was unclear whether those responsible for the execution of the crocodiles in Batang Samarahan would be facing any action from the authority concerned.
SFC also could not reveal whether any license was ever issued to the villagers to hunt, capture and kill the man-eater crocodile in Batang Samarahan.
Whatever it is, the hunting had been condemned by environmentalists, saying that the hunt should stop because the tragedy was not the crocodile’s fault.
Here it was about who to blame. Should the blame be on humans or the reptiles, with some people saying that crocodiles would only attack people to defend themselves while others said that animals were always animals, with some known to be notorious in nature.
Some studies on the characteristics and behaviours of crocodiles however, revealed that crocodiles would not harm humans unless they were hungry or being threatened.
In the recent case, it was however, not established whether the crocodile had mauled the victim because it was desperate for food or its habitat had been ‘encroached’.
But both are equally possible because after most areas near the river banks were cleared for development there were also less wild animals for crocodiles to feed on
and when desperately looking for food, they will feed on any meat that they can find.
On the other hand, it could also be possible that the crocodile had behaved notoriously when it sensed that its territory had been intruded, although there was never any intention on the part of the human being to disturb them.
However, animals are always animals. There will not be a time that they can think like human beings and in many cases even man also could not judge between right and wrong.
January 4, 2011, Tuesday Borneo Post
Foreign worker killed by crocodile
POSING DANGER TO VILLAGERS: A large crocodile sunning itself along the bank of the Baram River.MARUDI: A foreign worker attached to a timber camp near Kuala Tutoh was killed by a crocodile recently.
The police and Fire and Rescue Department here confirmed receiving reports of the man’s tragic demise. Residents in the Baram area still live in the shadow of crocodile attacks.
Crocodiles are often seen lying on riverbanks in the area and sometimes even approach villagers on jetties.
Longhouse folk along the Baram, Tinjar and Bakong rivers depend very much on stream or river water for washing and bathing. Young children, in particular, often play games by the river and this has proven to be dangerous.
Residents hope the authorities concerned would monitor the situation to prevent further attacks in future.
They are also upset that the authorities have investigated residents who killed crocodiles.
This included a resident of a longhouse at Sg Temiang in Lower Bakong, who caught a 20-foot crocodile several years ago.
The man was later interviewed by the authorities and this upset local folk who believe their lives are more important than those of the reptiles.
Borneo Post 15/7/2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Croc attack in Sungai Skrang?
TRAGIC: Jefferyson’s remains before being sent to Sri Aman District Hospital for a post-mortem.SKRANG: Villager Jefferyson Sali, 26, of Rumah Jangin, Kejemut, Skrang, could have been a victim of a crocodile attack in Sungai Skrang on Saturday.
His remains, which were recovered at Tabut, Skrang, at about 8am yesterday, showed two of his legs were broken, a gaping wound on his right thigh and scratch marks on various parts of his body.
Skrang police station chief Sgt Rasit Bunya said the deceased was found
floating some 3km from where he was believed attacked by the ferocious animal at about 5.30pm on Saturday.
His remains had been sent to the Sri Aman District Hospital for a post-mortem.
Rasit said prior to the incident, the victim was bathing near the Sungai Skrang jetty with another friend, but his friend left earlier.
However, when his friend realised that Jefferyson had not returned to the longhouse later in the evening, he rushed to the jetty to look for him but Jefferyson was nowhere to be found.
A search operation was immediately mounted.
Posted on May 30, 2011, Monday
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