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Let the peaceful crocs be, say wildlife conservation officials
View(s):Senior Wildlife Conservation Department officials say there is no need to remove crocodiles residing in Colombo city. They said this at the Colombo district environmental meeting held on Wednesday.
One senior official who attended the meeting said if no problems were caused by the reptiles, there was no need to remove them from their natural habitats. The official said they would intervene if problems occurred.
Colombo District Secretary K. D. Wijesiri confirmed that discussions about the presence of crocodiles in Colombo’s populated areas took place at the meeting.
He added that the officials who attended the meeting said crocodiles had lived in these populated areas for many years, and had not caused any problems.
Mr. Wijesiri said divisional secretaries and other stakeholders had raised concern over the crocodiles and mentioned a crocodile attack incident at Dehiwala which took place last year.
Wildlife Ranger’s Union President Saman Liyanagama said there were two species of crocodiles in the country, and the larger saltwater crocodiles inhabit the Kelani River, the Bolgoda lake, Diyawanna oya and the Lunawa area.
Mr. Liyanagama also said crocodiles had also been sighted in the Colombo port, and the sea at Galle Face, Bambalapitiya and Wellawatte.
“Saltwater crocodiles are capable of tolerating salt water and use the sea to swim between water bodies, when they find it difficult to swim in inland water ways,” he added. Mr. Liyanagama said crocodiles most often avoid humans and only attack in self-defence when threatened or when protecting nests. The Dehiwala incident was the only crocodile attack that took place recently, he added.
Furthermore, he said research carried out in Australia revealed that crocodiles who were translocated returned to their original habitats.
Mr. Liyanagama said if crocodiles were sighted people were advised to report the sighting using the Wildlife Conservation Department hotline (1992). He also advised people to keep a good distance from crocodiles that were sighted.
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