Call to audit crocodile farms in Sabah

Conservationists want to know if owners involved in animal trafficking

KOTA KINABALU: Crocodile conservationists want the Sabah Wildlife Department to carry out a full audit on crocodile farms in the state following the shocking seizure of 220 wild saltwater crocodiles smuggled in from Kalimantan.

“Investigators can ascertain if the population of crocodiles had ballooned in such farms from a full audit,” International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) crocodile specialist group member Dr Benoit Goossens said.

The Danau Girang Field Centre-based Dr Goossens said the detection of the wildlife smuggling ring involving Indonesia’s Kalimantan and Sabah was of very serious concern and needed to be investigated fully.

“It involves trafficking of wildlife. We have to know which farms are buying these.

“Sourcing of crocodiles from the wild is illegal in Sabah,” he added.

Dr Goossens said that although the estuarine crocodile has been downgraded by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) from Appendix I to Appendix II, Sarawak was the only state that has a quota to harvest crocodiles from the wild.

The centre has been contracted by the department to carry out a three-year non-detrimental findings study on whether Sabah’s crocodile population has reached a level where a wild harvest can occur without affecting the overall population.

“The results of the study are expected to be ready by 2020,” he said.

On Saturday, Sabah wildlife rangers working with intelligence from the Eastern Sabah Security Command raided a swamp area in Pasir Putih, Tawau where the smuggled crocodiles were found. Two Malaysians and two Indonesians were arrested and investigations into the syndicate were now ongoing.

Department director Augustine Tuuga said they were still investigating the connection between the syndicate and the farms in Sabah.

On poor conditions in one of the licensed crocodile farms near Kota Kinabalu, Tuuga said: “Our inspection found that the crocodiles are kept in secure concrete ponds.

“The farming ponds are also within the high perimeter fencing surrounding the whole facility. It is impossible for the crocodiles to escape.

“The ponds are also quite big,” he said, adding that the sanitation was reasonably good for a crocodile farm that was designed not to cater to visitors.

He said that they would continue to monitor and advise owners to improve and adhere to the standard crocodile farming guidelines issued by IUCN.