By News Editor
MIRI: A fearsome-looking gharial is reportedly on the loose in the vicinity of a Miri residential area and a recreation park next to it.
Wildlife officials from the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) said on Wednesday (Sept 2) that they were looking for it now at the site, about 2km from the city centre.
This follows alerts from members of the public who stumbled upon the creature, a crocodilian with a thin, long snout.
SFC state wildlife controller Zolkipli Mohamad Aton said his Miri SFC unit had been alerted.
“It is a gharial. We have deployed our SFC rangers to the site.
“However, we are still looking and cannot find it,” he said.
The gharial was first sighted inside a drain in the Piasau Jaya housing estate on Tuesday evening and SFC was alerted via social media.
The gharial is estimated to be 2m to 3m-long from the tip of its snout to its tail.
The housing estate is adjacent to the Bulatan Park, which is a big recreation site with a huge lake.
There are big monsoon drains linking the housing estate to the park.–The Star
