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West Java authority sends team to catch white crocodile at Cileungsi River
Crocodile sighting triggers panic in Bogor, West Java.
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Local residents wash clothes and bathe in Cileungsi River, Bogor, West Java. (Antara/Yulius Satria Wijaya)
T
he West Java Natural Conservation Agency (BKSDA) is scheduled to deploy a team on Friday to look for a white crocodile that previously surfaced at Cileungsi River in Bogor.
The crocodile, which is reported to be approximately 3 meters in length, was also caught on video by a resident of Bojongkulur village in Bogor regency. The video then circulated online, causing local residents to fear for their safety given the possibility of the crocodile going inland and harming humans.
“From the video, we suspect that it is a type of saltwater crocodile but we can’t predict how old the animal is,” head of the West Java BKSDA Bogor branch Kusmara said on Thursday as quoted by tempo.co.
The team will start by identifying whether the crocodile is living in its habitat or in an area where it might be hunted or killed by local residents. If there is a potential for conflict, Kusmara said, the team would catch the crocodile and put it in captivity.
He said he received the report a week ago, but has now sent out a team due to the increasing number of sightings in areas where the crocodile could be hunted and killed by local residents.
Saltwater crocodiles usually live in saline and brackish mangrove swamps, estuaries, deltas, lagoons or lower stretches of rivers and can be found in parts of India, most of Southeast Asia and parts of Australia. (ris/dmr)
