Agusan town to declare ‘Lolong’ a hero

In this file photo, Bunawan Mayor Edwin Cox Elorde pretends to measure a huge crocodile which was captured by residents and crocodile farm staff along a creek in Bunawan in Bunawan town in Agusan del Sur province, southern Philippines. Guinness World Records has declared Sunday that the huge crocodile blamed for deadly attacks is the largest in captivity in the world. (AP Photo)

BUNAWAN, Agusan del Sur, Philippines—Local officials here are bent on declaring “Lolong,” the world’s largest saltwater crocodile in captivity that died Sunday night, as its hero  through an ordinance that the Sangguniang Bayan has agreed to pass.

Mayor Edwin Elorde said the town’s councilors agreed during a meeting on Monday that Lolong deserved to be declared a hero for bringing prestige to the town, which found a place on the world map following  Lolong’s capture in September 2011.

“We agreed to honor him as a hero through local ordinance so that such legislative move will be permanent,” Elorde said.

Elorde, who said in previous interviews he had become so attached to Lolong that he regarded the reptile as “a son,” said the crocodile’s capture also raised awareness on the need to protect the biodiversity of the vast Agusan Marsh, part of which falls under his town’s jurisdiction.

This was one of the reasons locals learned to take care of Lolong not as a beast but as an “adopted son.”

Besides, Lolong also brought in cash from tourists, who came from various parts of Mindanao for a view of the reptile.

Lolong, who measured 6.17 meters, had dislodged Cassius, another saltwater crocodile captured in Australia, as the world’s largest crocodile in captivity, a record validated by Guinness World Records. Cassius  measures only 5.48 meters.

It was proof that the local populace considered Lolong more than just a beast when residents came in droves and paid their last respects to the crocodile on Monday afternoon.

Eulogies were even delivered during the “funeral rites” for the crocodile  at the Bunawan Eco-tourism Park. Some residents delivered messages of thanks, he said.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer saw Manobo tribal leaders performing traditional ethnic rituals for the dead, called “pangapog”, also on Monday.

They slaughtered chickens and offered the animals’ fresh blood as they asked the spirits of their ancestors and Magbabaya (God) to bless Lolong’s “soul.”

Meanwhile, Elorde said, the results of the necropsy on Lolong will be announced two weeks from Monday as experts from the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau still have to conduct more laboratory tests on the reptiles’ vital organs. The tests will be performed at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna, he said.