Shedding no tears for their loss of immunity

GOOD news for the humans who live by crocodile-infested Sarawak rivers, especially those villagers who depend on the rivers for prawns and fish for sale or for home consumption.

I’m referring to the news about the downgrading in Johannesburg, South Africa, recently of the status for our crocodiles in Malaysia.

In principle the reptiles have been stripped of their elevated status. From their pedestal in Appendix I of the Washington Convention, 1975, or Cites (the UN’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna), they are downgraded to Appendix II, where they rightly belong. If they can catch humans, so can they also be caught by humans.

If our estuarine Buaya Katak (Crocodylus porosus) are in danger of losing their immunity under our local law, what about the so-called non-man-eating Buaya Jujulong (Tomistoma schleglit)? Are they also losing that protection?

Good news also for the potential traders in crocodile skins and meats. There is a ready market for the hide in France and other European countries. For the meat, however, does anybody know where the lucrative market is? Some say it tastes like chicken but I can’t say crocodile ragout is my favourite supper!

All this while Thailand and Australia have been dominating the market in crocodile hide. It is the favourite material for branded ladies’ handbags in the fashion world, according to my tour guide in Bangkok last year.

What our crocodiles will lose in terms of immunity from culling by humans, they will gain in popularity in terms of an economic asset to the state. A new source of income for the people who live by the river – provided that they are licensed to trap or hunt the reptiles for sale.

Thus a dead crocodile is more useful to the economy of the state than a live one. The money that those crocodiles earn for the tourist agencies from displaying their eyes at night in the Kuching Wetland National Park in Pulau Salak near Santubong is minimal compared to the loss in terms of human lives already taken by the beasts there (still legally protected in Sarawak until the ban is finally lifted).

That protection will take some time to devise or to undo the provisions of the law – the Wild Life Ordinance 1998 – that discriminate against the Homo sapiens in Sarawak. The relevant provisions of that law will have to be amended as a consequence to the shifting of status of our crocodiles at the Cites level.

How does one take a census of crocs?

Apparently, the Sarawak Forestry Corporation has done a census on the population of crocodiles, relying on their own method of estimating the population sizes of each crocodile community in each river. I wonder if anyone knows how many of those beasts are lurking in the Batang Kayan in Lundu. There are too many of them there for the security of the prawn catchers near Stunggang and Sebandi and Pasir. Of course, this is my wild guess.

There are estimated to be some 13,500 crocodiles as of today in the state, roaming freely and in the major rivers like Limbang, Baram, Rajang, Batang Lupar, Suai. But the mother of all rivers in terms of harbouring large and aggressive crocodiles is the Samarahan River followed by the Sarawak mangrove wetland.

As the decision of Cites to downgrade the status of our crocodiles is yet to be operative at the ground (or is it riverine) level, fishermen and other users of rivers and beaches are hereby advised to keep away from the spots were the vermin hunt. These beasts will grab any human given half the chance, Cites’ decision notwithstanding.

You are still required to ask for a permit from the wildlife warden before you are allowed to hunt or trap the reptiles for sale or for revenge.

I have been writing about the menace of crocodiles and calling for their culling for the past seven years. From time to time I’ve gotten a nasty bite from Facebook friends calling me anti-crocodile, worse anti-establishment. Like many people I have always been concerned with the loss of precious human lives while the crocodiles are enjoying better protection under Cites, reinforced by our local legislation.

I was delighted when the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment told the press of the downgrading of the crocodiles to where they belong (without immunity) like anybody else.

My heartiest congratulations to our team of experts for an Olympian success to convince the Cites meeting to pull the Crocodylus porosus down in Johannesburg, leaving the state government to think of ways and means by which to reduce the crocodile/human conflicts and thereby saving time for the solutions of other conflicts, political or otherwise.

There is now, I feel, a sense of relief on the part of the people – at last, the federal government has taken a step in the right direction. Our state’s rivers will be safe again in the near future.

Repeat, however, there will be some time before the ban is legally lifted and the crocodiles no longer enjoy special protection by the authorities.

There’s a lot of work to be done still: some amendments to be made to the existing legislation are necessary, consequential upon the downgrading of the status of our crocodiles at the Cites’ level. There will be corresponding amendments of/deletion to the relevant provisions of the charter. Hopefully, our diplomats at various capital cities of the 180 countries, signatories to the Convention, will ensure that no one shall be allowed to derail our campaign to reduce conflicts between humans and crocodiles in Sarawak.

A lot of work on the shifting of the Crocodylus porosus from their pedestal at Appendix I down to Appendix II of Cites before the Pak Awang (professional croc trappers or hunters) in Sarawak can start laying their traps (alir).

Old hands at alir are mostly dead (by the way, by natural causes) or of old age. The new ones should begin to study the methods and tricks of crocodile catching from the unemployed Pak Awang.

Any Pak Awang worth his salt may be prepared to polish up on the necessary verses in the usual prayers to calm down the reptiles once one is stupid enough to take the Pak Awang’s lure.

Dead dogs make excellent bait, I was told by a well-known Pak Awang, the late Tuai Kampung Nyaleh Nandi of Temelan, Lundu. He would have been happy to show off his methods of catching the crocs if he was still with us.

There will possibly be lectures by the relevant officials on the necessary legislation and rules to be observed by the licence holders.

Meanwhile, aspiring Pak Awangs in the state may like to start acquiring good boats, new hooks and strong ropes. Business, once the green light is given by the Buaya Culling Authority (BCA).

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