Rep: Remove crocs from lake

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SERIAN: Kedup assemblyman Frederick Bayoi Manggie is giving the National Parks and Wildlife authority three weeks from yesterday to remove crocodiles reportedly lurking in Tasik Danu here or take full responsibility in the event someone becomes their victim in future.

WORRIED: Mohd Zubaidi points to a spot where a crocodile was spotted yesterday morning. At second right is Bayoi. (Inset) A signboard erected by Serian District Council to warn the public of the presence of crocodiles in the lake.

“On behalf of the residents in Serian, frequent visitors and Serian District Council, I want to publicly make this call to the National Parks and Wildlife people to do something about the unwelcome inhabitants of the lake.

“In fact I have personally informed them about the problem but until today nothing has been done so now I am giving them a grace period of three weeks to take the reptiles out or be fully responsible if any untoward incident happens next time,” he said.

He stressed this to reporters when visiting Tasik Danu yesterday to check on the situation following numerous reports of crocodile sightings by members of the public over the past two years, the biggest said to measure about six feet long.

The latest sighting was at about 9am yesterday (Oct 5) by Mohd Zubaidi and a group of workers which reaffirmed that crocodiles were really present in the lake.

Bayoi said that the beautiful Tasik Danu was once a very popular recreational spot among the locals and visitors but after the crocodiles were spotted there on numerous occasions the number of people frequenting the area had declined significantly.

He said the government, through Serian District Council had spent so much money to turn Tasik Danu into its present state so as to provide an attractive recreational facility for the public.

According to him, the crocodiles were believed to have been brought inland by the fast flowing water during the big flood that hit the area and other parts of the state in 2008.

The reptiles, he said, could have got stranded when the water level subsided and later on made their way into the lake.

“My main concern is that they may one day snap someone who ignorantly dips his legs in the water. This can happen especially when they are hungry and when this happens the victim’s family members will start suing the council for negligence or things like that.

“Being the people’s representative I am duly concerned about the problem because if anything happens, the public, especially the opposition will straight away point fingers at us and because we don’t want to be blamed unnecessarily we are asking the Wildlife authorities to take appropriate action,” he said.

He was worried that even though the council had placed some signboards in the area to warn visitors of the danger, ignorant visitors might even swim in the lake.

Meanwhile, the council’s secretary Phang Joon Foong who was also present during the visit to the lake yesterday said they were offering a monetary reward for the capture of the crocodiles.

“Whoever can catch the crocodiles should surrender them to us and the council will reward them RM100 for each crocodile captured alive,” said Phang.

In the meantime he advised visitors to refrain from going too close to the edge of the lake to prevent mishaps.