Elusive 2m-long croc prowling in KK monsoon drains finally caught

 

KOTA KINABALU: An elusive estuarine crocodile that has been spotted along the city's monsoon drains have finally been caught by a trap set up by state Wildlife Department rangers.

The two-metre long crocodile, which has been spotted many times over the years, was caught in the trap along a monsoon drain near Wisma MUIS in Sembulan here Wednesday (Feb 3), after fresh sightings of it was reported in December.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Datuk Augustine Tuuga said the crocodile inhabited the large monsoon drain running across Taman Ujana Park that interconnects with the monsoon drain near Wisma Muis.

“We started receiving reports since late December 2020 of a crocodile being seen sunbathing on some plastic pylons just opposite Taman Ujana Tropika.

"We immediately set up traps for its capture, but it remained elusive. It was caught not in its usual area near Ujana Park, but towards the waterways at Wisma MUIS," Tuuga said.

He said Sabah in the past few years has seen increasing human-crocodile conflict with quite a number of crocodile attacks on humans causing injuries and also fatalities.

"This was due to an increase in crocodile population due to an effective conservation programme in the past 30 years,” Tuuga said.

Wildlife Rescue Unit manager Dr Sen Nathan said that many people were actually asking the Wildlife Department to leave the crocodile alone and instead put up signs to warn people about the crocodile

“Unfortunately, this would not work in an urban area like Kota Kinabalu.

"In Kota Kinabalu, this monsoon drains are well connected with the drainage systems along the housing areas in Luyang and Foh Sang.

"Thus, people’s pets such as dogs and cats would definitely be fair game to these crocodiles. Once the crocodile grows bigger, it would also be a serious risk to small children and adults. That is why we need to remove them from urban locations," he said, adding that huge human population and crocodiles was not a right mix. - Star