Croc in monsoon drain kills dog
Published on: Tuesday, August 04, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: Animal Lovers Independent Rescuer (ALIR) laments that their pleas for assistance to rescue a dog which had fallen into the monsoon drain near the Sabah Museum were given the cold shoulder by the authorities.The dog was later killed by a crocodile lurking in the muddy waters.According to the ALIR spokesperson who wished to be identified as Didi, they were informed about the incident when one of their online followers said he witnessed a dog fall into the monsoon drain near the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 1/Sabah Museum area.
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"He (follower) called us up and asked us to quickly come help save the dog. He said the dog then swam until it reached a floating 'island' made up of rubbish and vegetation and climbed onto it waiting to be rescued. "As we didn't have the necessary equipment to go down into the storm drain, I first tried to contact the Fire and Rescue Department but could not get through. Then when I contacted the JPAM (Civil Defence Department) for assistance I was told initially by the person on the other end that they were not available. "When I pressed further what 'not available' meant, I was told they were 'busy' with another case. So I asked what was their suggestion, did they expect us, the public to handle such emergencies by ourselves and the casual response I received from the person was "ya pandai pandai lar korang buat sendiri" (yes, up to you to handle it by yourselves).
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"I was shocked and saddened to hear this. The question on my mind is what kind of a response was this from a staff of a government department? What if someone's child fell in the water instead? I almost gave him a piece of my mind but I hung up in frustration instead as I knew there will be no help from their side."So our group rushed as fast as we could to the Museum area but along the way the follower called us in tears to say the dog was already dead. The dog was attacked by a crocodile which pulled it from the floating island and drowned it.
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"We were shocked by this sad turn of events. When we arrived the crocodile had already swum off after killing the dog. What was worse was we were told the crocodile did not even eat the dog but only killed it and released it after drowning it." Didi said the follower recorded the attack and showed them the video and pictures of the attack which ALIR has also put up on their Facebook site. She hoped in future the relevant authorities would do something about the existence of crocodiles in the drain and also be more responsive on such issues.Wildlife Department Assistant Director Dr Sen Nathan when contacted said that it was unfortunate that the stray dog that fell in the water was killed by the crocodile."I have seen the video of the incident. Crocodiles are like that. Normally they do not immediately devour their kills. Normally they will come back later to eat it particularly if they are disturbed." On the crocodile presence in the drain he said his department was working hard to remove the crocodile from the monsoon drain. "We have already placed two traps there to catch the animal. We have also recently caught another crocodile in a trap we had set in the Kinarut river area."When asked if this was the same animal spotted last week basking in the drains near Foh Sang area, he said it was possible and there may even be more than one animal."Our rivers and waterways in the west coast area had always been known to have crocodiles in it. Even in the old days in the 1930s, the area around Komplex Karamunsing was a swamp and well known for its large populations of crocodiles. He said the Padas river has a small population of crocodiles because his department had been doing a good job of protecting these crocodiles all this while. "Because of the floods well, sometimes these crocodile end up migrating to different areas as a result."So it is not surprising to find them in the monsoon drains next to the Sabah Museum.""However I can assure you that the talk and stories of the crocodiles being escapees from the Sabah Museum area are just urban legends," he said. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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