A crocodile conservation programme initiated by the Sabah Wildlife Department should help reduce attacks on humans working in plantations.
SANDAKAN: The wanderings of a Sabah saltwater crocodile are being closely monitored here to halt increasing attacks on humans encroaching into their habitat to cultivate oil palm.
The Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) have successfully fitted a satellite tag on the four-metre-long saltwater crocodile in the Kinabatangan area which houses the longest river in Sabah, known for its abundant concentration of wildlife.
The tagging of this male crocodile called Girang was carried out in the vicinity of Danau Girang Field Centre with the assistance of the Sabah Wildlife Rescue Unit.
The remote-sensing device will track the movement of the crocodile in view of the rising number of crocodile attacks near rivers in oil-palm plantation-saturated Sabah, which experts claim have affected the feeding habits of many large predators.
SWD director Dr Laurentius Ambu disclosed today that this is the first time in Borneo and possibly in Southeast Asia that a saltwater crocodile has been tagged with a remote-sensing device.
“It is the start of a long-term research and conservation programme initiated by our department and the Danau Girang Field Centre,” he said in a statement.
According to DGFC director and head of the Kinabatangan Crocodile Programme, Dr Benoit Goossens, SWD was keen to carry out scientific work on the primary cause of the rising levels of crocodile attacks in Sabah’s large rivers after participating in the Human-Crocodile Conflict Conference held recently in Kota Kinabalu,
He said the opening of forested land for plantation development had caused a considerable decrease in the overall number of prey available, especially to large crocodiles.
“This situation makes for a far more dangerous environment.
“The incidents of crocodile attacks near plantations are extremely high compared to those of forested areas,” Goossens said.
He added that tagging large crocodiles in plantation and in forested areas, especially males which are potential man-eaters, will allow them to better understand and monitor the movements of these large predators.
“We hope that the results will help us provide guidelines for plantations workers and local villagers in order to reduce fatal attacks and contribute to the protection of this very important species for ecosystem health and tourism,” Goossens said.
No comments:
Post a Comment