PUERTO PRINCESA CITY — Residents in a barangay in Rizal town in southern Palawan were shocked when a fisherman found a saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) caught inside his fish pen.
Councilor Salcedo Bundal of Barangay Culasian, Rizal, said late Wednesday afternoon that the owner of the fish pen thought he caught a huge fish but got surprised when he saw a saltwater crocodile trying to wiggle its way out.
Bundal did not mention the name of the fish pen owner, but he said the fisherman left the estimated four-foot long crocodile there since its discovery on Monday.
“He got fearful so he left the crocodile there in the fish pen because he doesn’t know what to do with it,” Bundal disclosed.
The councilor said there had been sightings of saltwater crocodiles near the mouth of the Barangay Culasian river, and some of them might had been responsible for the missing farm animals and domestic pets.
The saltwater crocodiles, sometimes, also attempt to climb to the shore, and if not properly managed in the wilds, may endanger the lives of residents of the barangay.
Jovic Fabello, spokesperson of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Staff (PCSDS), said the same species of crocodile was caught too, in Culasian sometime ago.
Because of this new report, he said the PCSDS and the Crocodile Farm management would meet to see how they could resolve the problem, and to help Culasian residents be safe from crocodile attacks. Archie Barone/PNA-northboundasia.com