Cornishmen tag huge crocodile in Malaysian Borneo

A PENWITH man has come face to face with one of the biggest crocodiles yet caught.

Measuring at more than five metres, the creature was tagged by a team researching crocodiles in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

Luke Evans, right, helps to secure a tag on the crocodile in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
Luke Evans, third from right, with fellow Cornishman Isaac Field, second from right, and the rest of the crocodile-tagging team.

Among those grappling with the beast was Goldsithney-born Luke Evans, who is in the country studying estuarine, or saltwater, crocodiles.

"When we first saw the crocodile, it was in the trap and it was clear to me that it was going to measure in at more than five metres," said the 24-year-old former Mounts Bay Academy student.

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"The feeling was pure excitement, these are the kind of days that make me love my PhD.

"It's the third crocodile we have tagged in the Kinabatangan River in Sabah – this one was considerably larger than the other two."

The work is part of a continuing project being carried out as part of a study at Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), aiming to understand the long-term movements of the animals.

Luke wasn't the only Cornish person helping to tag the crocodile, named Siganas meaning 'wild' in Malay, as Penryn's Isaac Field is also on the trip.

It took the combined efforts of a 12-man team to pull the animal from its trap before it was tagged and released.

"The 5.2-metre individual is, to our knowledge, the largest ever tagged, eclipsing the previous record of 4.65-metre carried out in Australia," said Luke.

by John Allman

Saturday, October 27 2012, 11:16AM

“They make lovely pets, apparently, but if you take yours onto the beach in Bude, please keep it on a lead, because the last time somebody let his pet salt water crocodile off the lead on Bude beach, in the late 1990s, the darn thing waddled off into the sea, never to be seen again. The owner was really upset.

I expect it'll turn up again one day. If you see a crocodile like the one in the picture in the sea near Bude, Google "pet croc makes dash for freedom", and contact the grieving owner.

I wonder what they eat.”

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