Sarikei: Amid growing concern over human-crocodile conflicts in Sarawak, Senator Roderick Wong Siew Lead has called on the state government to move beyond paperwork and start enforcing its existing legal framework allowing conditional crocodile hunting.
However, he said the policy suffers from poor implementation, weak enforcement, and lack of coordination.
“Good policies must not remain on paper. We need to institutionalise, standardise, and normalise these legal hunting practices based on clear ecological data and public safety priorities,” he stressed in a statement.
Roderick Wong who is also DAP Sarawak Assistant Organising Secretary proposed four key reforms to make crocodile hunting both effective and accountable.
- Identify and designate high-risk crocodile zones, especially areas near human settlements, fishing zones, or sites of past attacks;
- Authorise scheduled culling operations by enforcement officers or licensed hunters, with mandatory photographic records, reporting, and public transparency;
- Implement a transparent quota and permit system to ensure crocodiles are culled selectively and legally, preventing illegal or unregulated hunting;
- Collaborate with researchers and ecologists to monitor crocodile populations and ensure decisions are data-driven and ecologically sound.
“When crocodile populations exceed ecological carrying capacity and directly threaten human life, regulated hunting becomes a responsible and necessary strategy – not a cruelty, but conservation through control,” he added.
He said in response to a recent crocodile relocation operation by the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) and the Civil Defence Force (Angkatan Pertahanan Awam) at Sungai Sarikei led to the startling discovery of 19 crocodiles, sparking renewed public concern over safety and wildlife management in the state.
While acknowledging the efforts of SFC in relocating crocodiles, Roderick Wong said such measures were insufficient as long-term solutions.
“Relocating crocodiles simply moves the danger from one location to another. Without follow-up population control, the core problem will persist or even worsen,” he warned.
To address this, he proposed the creation of a multi-agency task force to develop a comprehensive Crocodile Ecological Management Plan.
In conclusion, Roderick Wong reiterated that crocodile management must go beyond wildlife conservation – it is a matter of public safety, environmental sustainability, and economic development.
“We must not wait until lives are lost before taking action,” he said.
