The crocodile is pulled from the river by an excavator.
MIRI: A 17-foot long crocodile, which has been terrorising the community around Sungai Suai in Niah for the past year, was finally caught with the help of Sarawak Forestry Corporation’s (SFC) Swift Wildlife Action Team (SWAT) unit on Saturday.
The work to catch the reptile – weighing almost a tonne – was however not easy as the SWAT unit spent a week trying to snare it.
A source, when contacted yesterday, said SFC had to act as several villagers there had lodged a complaint over an attempted attack by the croc against fishermen in the area last week.
“The reptile has tried to attack some fishermen here who were fishing in the river not so long ago.
“Fearing that it would re-attack, we decided to lodge the report and have the reptile caught,” he said.
When asked what was used as bait to snare the crocodile, the source said SFC had used chicken meat.
“After a few attempts, SFC finally managed to catch it on Saturday at noon. And that was not easy too. They (SFC) took over one hour to bring the reptile to the river bank as it was very aggressive,” he added.
A statement from SFC said its SWAT unit received a report from the villagers last Friday that a large crocodile had been frequently seen lurking in Suai river.
“SFC Miri dispatched a team to the location on May 14 and three units of baited hooks were set up to lure the crocodile,” it said.
The statement also noted that an excavator had to be used to remove the crocodile from the riverbank onto a lorry before it was transferred to Benaya Crocodile Farm in Kuala Baram.
“SFC thanks the villagers and the Malaysia Civil Defence Force personnel who had assisted in the operation.”.