KOTA KINABALU: Wildlife rangers and other authorities including Sabah Parks officials are on the lookout for crocodiles said to be prowling in waters off the city and at tourist sites such as islands.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said following recent viral videos showing a group of six creatures believed to be crocodiles in waters off the city, their officials have already gone to the ground to check.
“Aerial surveillance using drones was also conducted, but we have yet to detect this group of crocodiles,” he said.
However, he explained that there could be a high chance that these group sightings are not crocodiles, as these reptiles seldom move in groups.
“As far as we know, crocodiles around the world do not move in groups of five or six individuals at a time, in the same area,” Tuuga said, adding they believe these could be fish or whales or other marine species.
“Maybe you can see a group of crocodiles in farms, but not in the wild in open waters,” he said.
He said surveillance operations will continue during these few days to determine what exactly are the species of those seen in the viral videos.
Tuuga advised the public to verify information before spreading them and causing unnecessary panic.
He said the only real crocodile sighting was about a week or two ago near the Gaya Island Resort in the city.
“For this, we are already working with Sabah Parks rangers to try and locate and capture it for safety reasons,” he said.
On suggestions that wildlife rangers can search for the nests of these reptiles and then destroy them as a form of population control, Tuuga said there is in fact a committee set up earlier to hunt for crocodiles.
“So far, this committee and the assisting teams comprising the police, firemen and Civil Defence officials have conducted over a hundred operations and shot dead more than 100 crocodiles,” he said.
He said the hotspots targeted were west coast areas from Papar to Pitas, in Sandakan, Kinabatangan, Lahad Datu and Tawau rivers.
Tuuga said they were working tirelessly to capture these reptiles, especially at hotspot areas where coastal or riverside villagers reside.
It is hard to capture many of these reptiles at once because of the lack in manpower while villagers or hunters were not interested in taking part in crocodile hunting, despite the hunting permit for the species being opened up for application earlier this year, he said.
