‘Lolong’ may go to Quezon City park

Lolong may be moving from a sleepy farming town in Mindanao to the big city to become a potential multimillion-peso star in a zoo.

The fate of the world’s biggest captive crocodile is currently being discussed in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje on Thursday said the DENR was studying the feasibility of transferring Lolong from his one-hectare pen in Bunawan, Agusan del Sur province, to the 22.7-ha Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City.

The move will provide the nation’s capital with a new destination that’s certain to attract hordes of curious foreign and local tourists, and potentially, millions of pesos in revenue.

“What other tourist destinations do we have in Metro Manila? Imagine you’re a tourist from Europe. At the airport, you’re asked, ‘Do you want to see the biggest crocodile in the world? It’s just 30 minutes away,’” Paje told reporters.

“I like it,” he replied when asked about the prospects of such a transfer.

Even so, Paje said he respected the wishes of the mayor of Bunawan, Edwin Elorde, who previously thumbed down Paje’s offer to take Lolong to see the city lights.

“We’re just respecting the mayor. I also want to avoid the local versus national problem. I don’t want them to say, ‘just because we got into the Guinness World Records, now you’re going to take Lolong away,’” he said.

But Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau Director Mundita Lim said there was no legal impediment, should Paje opt to take Lolong under his wing.

“Under the law, the national government has ownership of Lolong,” she said in an interview.

Conditions for transfer

Lim said, however, that certain conditions needed to be met for such a transfer to take place.

First, the authorities have to make sure that Lolong will not experience much stress when being transported. Second, the Quezon City park must install strong fences to ensure the crocodile will not escape and harm people. Third, Elorde will have to agree.

“In Bunawan they have even started developing a park for Lolong. So we have to weigh all these things before Lolong can be transferred,” Lim said.

The Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center straddles North Avenue and Quezon Avenue near  Quezon Memorial Circle. It has a 7-ha lagoon, cottages and picnic huts, among other facilities.

The 8,000-square meter Wildlife Rescue Center is inside the complex, serving as a mini-zoo for the display of animals for educational purposes.

According to its website, the center has a clinic and laboratory for animals, a quarantine area and about 200 enclosures for the different animals. At present there are about 1,000 animals of different species in the center either on display or under quarantine.

Guinness recently declared Lolong, the saltwater crocodile caught in September in Agusan Marsh, to be the largest in captivity in the world.

Lolong measures 6.17 meters and weighs more than a ton. Lolong took the top spot from an Australian saltwater crocodile named Cassius, which measured 5.48 meters and weighed nearly a ton.

Hunt for bigger crocodile

Lim said Lolong was estimated to be about 50 years old and was expected to live for another half century.

“He is still within mating age. In fact, there are reports that he has a mate,” she said, adding that female crocodiles were typically smaller than males.

A team of hunters captured the crocodile with steel cable traps during a 24-day hunt. The reptile was blamed for attacks on people and livestock, including a child who was killed in 2009 and a fisherman who went missing.

The crocodile was named after Ernesto “Lolong” Conate, a government environmental officer who died of a stroke while working out plans for capturing the beast.

Lolong was eventually caught by a team of crocodile experts and villagers near Lake Mihaba, one of the several lakes crisscrossing Agusan Marsh, the country’s largest marshland.

As to rumors that there was a bigger crocodile lurking in the marshes, Paje said there had only been reports of sighting but these had not been confirmed.

“We need to look for the next Crocodile Dundee of the Philippines,” he said.