NORTH COTABATO, Philippines --- Mayor Joselito Piñol of Mlang town announced on Friday they will return to the Liguasan Marsh the 2.9 meter crocodile Moro fishermen captured while harvesting wild tilapias using a net at one spot of the delta last week.
The reptile is still being treated for severe dehydration apparently for being tied under a tree by fishermen for several days without food and water after it was caught with a net in a portion of the Liguasan Marsh in Barangay Dungguan in Mlang.
Barangay Dungguan is located in the northeastern side of the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Marsh, located at the tri-boundary of Central Mindanao’s adjoining North Cotabato, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat provinces.
The marsh, which teems with endemic fish, reptile and bird species, is touted as the world’s largest and said to have huge deposits of natural gas.
“Once we get clearance from attending veterinarians, we shall set if free, release it into the marsh for it to thrive there undisturbed,†Piñol said.
The planned release of the crocodile, which the Mlang municipal government named “Malang,†is now being coordinated with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Malang could be the second largest Philippine freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus Mindorensis) ever caught in Central Mindanao, according to wildlife experts from the DENR’s North Cotabato provincial office.
Moro fishermen in Maguindanao's Pagalungan town caught in 1994 a bigger crocodile, about 14 feet long, at Kalbugan District in the same municipality, the gateway to the Liguasan delta.
The country has two crocodile species -- the Philippine freshwater crocodile, which is endemic to the country, and the Indo-Pacific crocodile, or Crocodylus Porosus, which inhabits the tropical areas of Asia and the Pacific regions.