KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Wildlife Department is stretched too thin to manage human-crocodile conflicts, says its director Augustine Tuuga.
With just a handful of experts in the field to handle the increasing number of crocodile sightings and attacks, he said the department could only address one issue at a time.
Tuuga said there were only about six teams to cover the whole of Sabah, which is Malaysia’s second largest state after Sarawak, adding that the workload can be overwhelming.
A task force was formed to oversee mitigation operations on human-crocodile conflict, headed by the Sabah Home Affairs and Research Office under the Chief Minister’s Department.
“This is a state-level task force group set up to handle crocodile attack issues proactively,” he added.
But he said that even with the “extra hands” from the district offices, police, Fire and Rescue Department as well as Civil Defence Force, among others, the speed of operation remains slow.
“The crocodile-hunting process can be quite slow because it involves moving from river to river, then district to district, with one team assigned to each exercise.
“And we have about 76 rivers across Sabah,” he said.
Sabah is also home to the Kinabatangan River that stretches approximately 560km from the Crocker Range in the interior of the state to the Sulu Sea, passing through a variety of ecosystems and supporting diverse wildlife along its course.
Between Jan 4 and May 29, a total of 77 operations were conducted, resulting in the capture or shooting of 109 crocodiles.
“During the same period, there were three fatalities and three injuries due to crocodile attacks,” he said.
In the latest incident on Sunday, a nine-year-old boy was killed by a crocodile at a river in Kampung Lembaga Batu 8, along Datuk Tay Road in Sandakan.
He was swimming in the river at about noon when the crocodile attacked, and his body was found at 3.05pm, about 500m from the spot he was last seen.
Tuuga said while his department monitors crocodile attacks and sightings closely, it does not solely depend on reports.
“We conduct hunting operations in rivers where crocodiles are present within kampung areas.
“People are always advised to exercise caution when engaging in river activities.
“We also place signboards in dangerous areas.
“Typically, picnic areas do not have crocodiles,” he said.
