The Bago City Environment and Natural Resources Office yesterday said there is no cause for alarm for people in Sitio Lucasan, Brgy. Abuanan, after a severely-injured crocodile was captured at the irrigation canal in the area.

Vicente Mesias, environment officer of Bago, said the juvenile female crocodile with its upper part of its snout severed by a bolo hack wound, was turned over to the Eco-Garden in Eroreco, Bacolod City for treatment.

He said Bacolod City CENRO Joan Nathaniel Gerangaya went to the area to verify information that the reptile came from the nearby crocodile farm owned by Deogracias Estrella.

Gerangaya said there were 49 crocodiles in the farm or 14 more than the last count they made in March. However, he said it cannot be determined that the captured crocodile come from the farm as they do not have the technical expertise for that.

Gerangaya said they will submit a report to the office of Protected Area and Wildlife Bureau in Manila to request for experts who can determine if the injured crocodile came from the farm.

Meanwhile, the chances for survival of the juvenile crocodile brought to the rescue center in Bacolod City Thursday last week, is slim, but the center is doing its best to keep it alive.

Victoria Demonteverde, project officer of the West Negros College and Foundation for Outreach, Research and Ecological and Sociological Technology, yesterday said the crocodile could not swallow food and is being forced-fed with chicken, fish and mice so that it could survive.

She said they are applying betadine or iodine solution and flagyl to its wounded snout to minimize infection. She said they have also placed a lamp bulb in its cage to keep it warm.

Demonteverde said she has coordinated with the Feathered Friends Foundation and the Negros Forest Ecological Foundation, which plans to put up a prosthetic snout and teeth to the baby crocodile. She said the salt-water crocodile, or "Crocodylus porosus" is now "critically endangered" and they will be lost soon unless conservation measures are taken.

She said the public should not harm or kill wild animals such as crocodiles because they are important to balance the ecosystem. Crocodiles could help in the fertilization of the swamps and rivers, she added.

The crocodile was turned over by the Community Environment Natural Resources Office to the WNC and FOREST Inc. rescue center.*NAB/DMG

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