Tuesday - September 06, 2011

What A Croc

Relieved Filipino villagers threw a fiesta when they captured a one-ton crocodile, with about 100 people pulling the feared beast from a creek by rope then hoisting it by crane onto a truck. The party may have been premature.

After the 20-foot (6.1-meter) saltwater crocodile was caught over the weekend, authorities said Tuesday an even bigger killer crocodile may lurk in creeks of the remote southern region.

The crocodile — weighing 2,370 pounds (1,075 kilograms) and estimated to be at least 50 years old — is the biggest caught alive in the Philippines in recent years. Wildlife officials were trying to confirm whether it was the largest such catch in the world, said Theresa Mundita Lim of the government’s Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau.

It was captured alive after a three-week hunt in Bunawan township in Agusan del Sur province, where villagers have been terrified. A child was killed two years ago in the township by a crocodile that was not caught, and a croc is suspected of killing a fisherman missing since July. Villagers witnessed a crocodile killing a water buffalo last month.

Bunawan villagers celebrated after they caught the crocodile. “It was like a feast, so many villagers turned up,” Mayor Edwin Cox Elorde said.

Wildlife official Ronnie Sumiller, who has hunted “nuisance crocodiles” for 20 years and led the team behind the capture in Bunawan, said a search was under way for a possibly larger crocodile he and villagers have seen roaming in the farming town’s marshy outskirts.

“There is a bigger one, and it could be the one creating problems,” Sumiller told The Associated Press by telephone from Bunawan, about 515 miles (830 kilometers) southeast of Manila.

“The villagers were saying 10 percent of their fear was gone because of the first capture,” Sumiller said. “But there is still the other 90 percent to take care of.”

The crocodile was placed in a fenced cage in an area where the town plans to build an ecotourism park for species found in a vast marshland in Agusan, an impoverished region about 515 miles southeast of Manila, [village Mayor Edwin Cox] Elorde said.
...
Despite the catch, villagers remain wary because several crocodiles still roam the outskirts of the farming town of about 37,000 people.

They have been told to avoid venturing into marshy areas alone at night, Elorde said.

The Guinness Book of World Records reports that the largest crocodile in captivity is 17-feet-long “Cassius” of Australia. If the facts are verified, the new Filipino crocodile could take the record by a long shot.

video here

Posted by Drew458     on 09/06/2011 at 11:35 AM   
Filed Under: • Animals •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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