Crocodile being crocodile is no crime, lawyers tell

 

Wildlife conflict

• Lawyers for Animal Rights (LAR) today questioned the Wildlife and National Parks Department’s (Perhilitan) plan to set crocodile traps in Port Dickson, after an elderly man escaped death following an attack by the animal, today.

  Bernama reported Negeri Sembilan Perhilitan director Faizal Izham Pikri as saying that crocodile traps may be set if necessary, following the incident.

  In a statement today, Rajesh Nagarajan and Sachpreetraj Singh Sohanpal questioned why the agency did not enforce controls despite years of public reporting of crocodile sightings in the area, adding that it is not a crime for crocodiles to behave like one.

  "This constant mentality of 'find the animal, trap the animal, kill the animal’ is not conservation. It is blaming wildlife for Perhilitan’s blatant failure to manage this issue," the duo said.

  They also reminded Perhilitan that nature is not a "human-only zone" and urged the agency to abandon any indiscriminate trapping operations. - Mkini