KUCHING: For the past few months, Bandar Baru Semariang resident Dayang Latifah was clueless as to the fate of four of her nine cats which seemingly vanished without a trace.
However, questions surrounding the felines’ disappearance appeared to have been answered on Tuesday night when local residents caught sight of a seven foot crocodile devouring the fifth cat belonging to the middle-aged woman.
The ferocious reptile, believed to have originated from Sungai Tengah which is located just behind the housing estate, was spotted on the bank of the river with the carcass of a cat in its jaws around 9pm by residents, who immediately contacted the Civil Defence Department to assist in trapping it.
The ensuing commotion apparently startled the reptile into a connecting d rain passage, where it lay as residents and Civil Defence Department personnel spent the next four hours trying to trap it.
“We had initially tried to catch the crocodile on our own but our attempts were disrupted due to high tide which filled the drain with water and made it difficult for us to trap it.
THE CULPRIT: A photo taken by a local resident of the crocodile inside the drain.
ANOTHER PET LOST: Dayang Latifah (right) looks on as her daughter shows a picture of her cat killed by the reptile on Tuesday night.
Crocodile nowhere inside the drain
FUTILE EFFORT: Civil Defence Department personnel and local residents attempting to trap the crocodile inside the drain.
“We then contacted the Civil Defence Department for assistance and had to wait for a few hours for the water level in the drain to subside before resuming our hunt,” said a local resident when met at the scene.
Their efforts, however, came to naught when the crocodile was nowhere to be found inside the drain. It is believed to have squeezed its way through a steel barrier placed by the residents at the point where the drain connected to the river.
Dayang Fatimah, meanwhile, said she firmly believed the reptile was responsible for the earlier disappearance of four of her cats.
“I originally had nine cats, but lost four without a trace over the past few months. Now that the crocodile was seen devouring another one of my cats, it is clear as to who the culprit is,” she added.