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Up for a challenge? Contest held in Palu to save crocodile stuck in tire for years
Central Sulawesi Governor Longki Djanggola said a contest was launched to remove a tire stuck on the neck of a 4-meter crocodile.
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A wild crocodile caught in a used motorcycle tire once again appeared in the Palu River, Central Sulawesi, Wednesday (12/25/2019). The four-meter-long crocodile has been entangled with tires since 2016, but until now there has been no further action to free the tire shackles. (Antara/Basri Marzuki)
T
he Central Sulawesi Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA Central Sulawesi) is holding a contest for anyone who is willing and able to save a wild crocodile in Palu that has been stuck in a motorcycle tire for years.
"The contest is to remove the tire from the crocodile's neck," BKSDA Central Sulawesi head Hasmuni Hasmar said as quoted by Antara on Tuesday.
"We will give a reward to anyone who is able to save the crocodile from the tire," he said without specifying further details of the reward.
Hasmar said the contest was launched because the agency did not have enough resources to find the wild crocodile in question. It is regularly spotted swimming in waters connecting the Palu River and Palu Bay.
The 4-meter-long reptile was first spotted swimming with the tire on its neck in 2016.
Officials and conservationists previously tried and failed to catch the crocodile.
Wild animal tamer Muhammad Panji, better known for his moniker Panji Petualang, also tried to save the reptile in January 2018, but to no avail.
"We have also cooperated with a nonprofit organization from Australia but it also failed to save the crocodile," Hasmar said.
Central Sulawesi Governor Longki Djanggola said the contest was launched with a target to free the crocodile from the tire in 2020.
"The BKSDA has a lot of work to do, part of it being [the search for] the missing crocodile with the tire," Longki said. "This year it must be caught so that it can be released from the tire." (ami)
