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Endangered crocodile species kills local man

Category: Local Communities, Orangutan Foundation Staff, Other wildlife, Pondok Ambung Research Station, Uncategorized | Date: Jan 23 2009 | By: orangutanfoundation

I am afraid orangutans won’t feature in this post. Unfortunately, I am writing about something rather sombre.

On the 31st December a local man was killed and eaten by a large crocodile. A group of people went out the same night to look for the man and the crocodile but found neither. The next day they called on a pawang or shaman who has the ability to call crocodiles. He worked his magic and within 17 hours of the attack the crocodile was caught and killed; it was almost 5m long and must have been over 50 years old. Inside were the remains of the man.

Malaysian False Gharial (Tomistoma schlegeli)

Malaysian False Gharial (Tomistoma schlegeli)

The Malaysian False Gharial (Tomistoma schlegeli) that killed and ate a local man.

What makes this interesting, as well as tragic, is the crocodile was a Malaysian False Gharial (Tomistoma schlegeli). You may remember last year (A VERY RARE CROCODILE), Rene Bonke was out here studying them. They are one of the crocodile species never reported to have attacked people. Because of this, we need to write up the case. Devis, Pondok Ambung Manager, has been leading the investigation and yesterday we went out to look at the site where the attack occurred.

It isn’t surprising Tomistoma kill people. What surprised me was the river where the attack happened. It was an ordinary, peaceful, black-water creek, not 15 minutes upstream from town. It was identical to literally dozens of such rivers that I have seen, been up, even waded across. Never once did it occur to me that such a large Tomistoma might live there. They are an endangered species and you rarely see them.

River where the crocodile was found

River where the crocodile was found

Being in that place, where I knew someone had died, gave me pause. But behind that was a wonder; a wonder that in this era of chainsaws, speedboats and wanton habitat destruction, an animal of such size could have survived for so long.

For more information about Tomistoma please visit Tomistoma Task Force

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7 Responses to “Endangered crocodile species kills local man”

Dana-Phoenix Arizona, on 23 Jan 2009

Well I certainly feel bad for the man and of course his family, but also feel sad for the croc. Wow, 50 years old and had never been seen in this River?

sheryl, washington, dc, on 23 Jan 2009

This is another sad example of how humankind is destroying the Earth. We are NOT endangered and that croc was just doing what a croc does.

s.

Ralf Sommerlad, on 26 Jan 2009

Yes, its a tragedy and I do feel sad about what happened.
The crocodile may have lived that long in the river, but in fact we do not know about the migration if the species.
By the way,tragic cases like this doesnt make crocodilian conservation easier.

Orangutan Foundation » Thank you and more on the crocodile., on 26 Jan 2009

[…] orangutans soon but first I’d like to reply to Dana and Sheryl who commented on my last post Endangered crocodile species kills local man. I agree it was a sad end for this crocodile that had lived for over 50 years and is an endangered […]

Annie, on 26 Jan 2009

Wow……what an amazing story and I too am saddened that the people felt they had to kill this old croc……how sad she lived that long and this is what had to happen..I am sorry but humans take the risk when they go into this territory!

Christina, on 18 Jun 2009

I am a firm believer in animal rights. I am saddened by the death of this man and my sympathy goes to his family; however
crocodiles like sharks can be anywhere at anytime. When you live or are visiting a part of the world where these and other trecherious animals live you must be cautious and very aware of your surroundings. I do not believe that killing the crocodiles was the right thing to do. Retaliative actions like this will destroy our earth and its animals, humans as well. The earth is a living planet connected by food chains. Everyone assumes that humans are at the top of this chain but this is not neccessarily true. We must accept these acts by nature. The man was in the crocodiles territory even though it was never seen here; animals more so than humans migrate to accomodate feeding and survival just as humans do. Tornados kill more people than crocodiles do each year and we dont and cant chase them down and kill them. I say let mother nature be and if just so happen to be able to escape such a thing your lucky…THANKS CHRISTINA

Brandon, on 15 Oct 2009

From what I read the man was actually in the water at the time of the attack. Now, I feel sorry for the man and his family, but this crocodilian should not have been killed. This animal held no grudge nor was it angry- it was simply hungry and found an easy meal (one without claws or hooves.) Even if Tomistoma were not known to be dangerous, it is true that the much more dangerous Saltwater crocodile can pop up virtually anywhere in Borneo, even where they are not common (they once roamed the entire lower levels of the island, and all of tropical Australasia in general.) The man simply took a risk and paid with his life and the life of an endangered and, after looking at these photos, absolutely beautiful crocodilian. Word of the wise- if the local people care not for the animal’s welfare (which I’m sure many of them do), at the very least I’m sure they can appreciate the fact that wildlife photographers like myself would pay good money to see such a magnificent animal living peacefully in the wild. Take a note from Brazil’s successful Jaguar conservation efforts and make it more profitable to the local human population to keep these wonderful animals alive rather than dead. In northern Australia massive Saltwater crocodiles (many over 6 meters, possibly 7) are thriving and only cost maximum 2 human lives per year (always due to human error.)

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