Unimas staff, students advised to be cautious
KUCHING: Students and staff of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) are advised to be cautious when carrying out their daily activities near the campus’s man-made lake, following sightings of a medium- size reptile ‘resembling a crocodile’ recently.
Unimas’ Security Division director Lt- Col ( Rtd) Mohd Melintang Abdullah said it received reports of the sightings on Tuesday and was investigating and patrolling the waters to search for the reptile.
We will continue to monitor the lake although preliminary findings and past encounters indicate that it is likely to be a monitor lizard. Lt-Col (Rtd) Mohd Melintang Abdullah, Unimas’ Security Division director
“We will continue to monitor the lake although preliminary findings and past encounters indicate that it is likely to be a monitor lizard.
“I cannot confirm if it is a crocodile, because there is no evidence, but at the same time we cannot disregard it,” he said when met yesterday.
Melintang was commenting on a posting of a crocodile sighting in the lake which went viral recently.
According to him, the university had yet to come across any crocodile in its lake. However, huge monitor lizards had been frequently spotted in the area.
“As security is our number one priority we are not taking things for granted and are serious in this matter.”
He said the university would also seek assistance and advice from Sarawak Forestry Corporation for they were the experts, and advised all staff and students to be cautious at all time.
Meanwhile, State Fire and Rescue Department director Nor Hisham Mohammad, when contacted, said they had also received a similar report on the sightings of crocodile through its Command Centre.
He added that they had contacted SFC, prompting its deputy general manager for Protected Areas and Biodiversity Conservation, Oswald Braken Tisen, to also confirm receiving similar report from Unimas’ security personnel.
Nor Hisham also disclosed that SFC would deploy their personnel to the ground on Feb 13.
Oswald Braken however failed to respond when contacted via text message.