Kota Kinabalu: State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin said the government cannot allow unlicensed crocodile hunting, as it would contravene existing law and jeopardise ecosystem sustainability.
“My Ministry takes the incidents of human-crocodile conflict in Sabah seriously, including in the Lamag and Segama areas,” Jafry said, adding that the crocodile species Crocodylus porosus is listed as a protected animal under Schedule 2 of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997.
However, he said that permitted culling is possible for population control purposes.
“Any individual who wishes to control or reduce the crocodile population may apply to the Wildlife Department. That is precisely why it has been placed under Schedule 2 … meaning it can be culled, but only with a permit obtained for control purposes,” he said in his winding-up speech, Wednesday.
He said records showed that 11 people were killed and three were injured in crocodile attacks across Sabah in 2025.
“Two fatalities, involving foreign workers, happened in Kinabatangan. The majority of incidents happened in oil palm plantation areas during fishing and netting activities,” he said, responding to questions from Lamag and Segama.
Tamparuli raised the situation in Tuaran, saying residents can no longer approach rivers due to frequent attacks.
Tamparuli also said that police boats conducting search operations had been disturbed by crocodiles in the Tuaran River, and that residents believe a local crocodile farm is the source of the growing population.
In response, Jafry said his Ministry has standard operating procedures in place and that awareness briefings and warning signboards have and are being deployed at conflict hotspots.
At the international level, Jafry noted that Sabah and Sarawak have successfully secured a downlisting of the species from Appendix I to Appendix II under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, allowing controlled crocodile farming and product exports, a result of effective management plans in the State.
“The Wildlife Department’s approach combines integrated operations, hunting licence issuance for population management, awareness programmes, warning sign installation and scientific studies,” he said, adding that a pilot project was being done at Batu Puteh, Kinabatangan.
On human-elephant conflict, Jafry acknowledged the recent fatality involving a 69-year-old small-scale oil palm farmer in Ladang Begahak 2, Jalan Tungku.
“The Wildlife Department is deploying GPS collar monitoring of elephant movements, installing electric fences at conflict hotspot areas and training elephant escort teams from local communities to enable faster response,” he said.
“A pilot project planting elephant food sources to reduce incursions into residential areas is also underway,” he said.
Responding to Segama, who raised the plight of small-scale farmers whose oil palm seedlings, received under the Malaysian Palm Oil Board replanting scheme, are destroyed by elephants and are now subject to repayment demands, Jafry said the government, through the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, does provide assistance but requires names and amounts for verification to ensure assistance is genuine.
“I invite every assemblyman who is willing to assist in addressing the elephant problem to be appointed as Honorary Wildlife Wardens under the Wildlife Enactment.
“This role will give our assemblymen a closer understanding of the challenges of wildlife management on the ground, while also strengthening the accurate and effective delivery of information to local communities,” he said.
