‘Stressed giant croc better off in QC’

Maybe what Lolong, the 1-ton crocodile caught in the Agusan Marsh last month, needs is a change of scenery.

Secretary Ramon Paje of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Friday said the crocodile —which has not been eating since it was captured a month ago—might be better off in the 7-hectare lagoon at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife compound   in Quezon City.

Since it was caught on

Sept. 3, the 1,075-kilogram (2,370-pound) Lolong—believed to be the largest reptile caught alive in the Philippines—has become lethargic.

Environment officials said the crocodile was probably stressed out by the capture and by having to live in new surroundings, a 600-square-meter enclosure that is a far cry from its former playground, the 14,000-hectare Agusan Marsh.

Paje said his office was willing to transfer Lolong to the lagoon in Quezon City to hasten its recovery if Mayor Edwin Elorde of Bunawan, Agusan del Sur province, would allow it.

According to DENR officials, Elorde has become attached to the reptile that terrorized his town for years. Lolong has turned from a monster into Bunawan’s only tourist attraction.

Having Lolong in Manila would allow more students and tourists to see the crocodile, Paje said. He promised that part of the revenues from Lolong would be given to the local government if Elorde agreed to hand Lolong over to the custody of the DENR.

“It will educate people and the income will go to them,” Paje told the media.

Mundita Lim, director of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB), said the lagoon, which is a natural depression, would be a good artificial habitat for Lolong.

The crocodile can live both in saltwater and brackish water, Lim said.

“We just have to build a fence around it,” she added.

50 years old

Lolong measures 21 feet long and 3.5 feet wide. It is estimated by environment officials to be around 50 years old.

“It can live for another 50 years,” Lim said.

Before Lolong could be transferred to Manila, Lim said PAWB would first have to introduce into the lagoon other crocodiles kept in a rescue center elsewhere in Quezon City.

“We will have to test it so that we can manage the threat to the human population,” she said.

‘Pork barrel’ funds

Building a better habitat for Lolong may be expensive as it would mean putting up a fence and viewing platforms for tourists.

Paje and Lim said it would help if congressmen could spare some of their “pork barrel” funds to give Lolong a new home in Quezon City. Considering the reptile’s size and appetite, it would be necessary to build a strong fence around the lagoon, they said.

Paje said the PAWB was going back to Agusan Marsh to study the crocodile population there.

“This study will, hopefully, provide us with the necessary baseline information on the abundance and area of concentration of crocodiles within the marsh,” Paje said. “From that we will base our short term and long term management program for the crocodiles in the Agusan Marsh.”

More crocodiles sighted

Paje said the study would also include an education campaign to raise community awareness on preventing further crocodile attacks in the area.

The study would also seek to develop local expertise on crocodile monitoring and habitat assessment, he added.

Lim said field officers and residents had reported sightings of other large crocodiles in the area.