Jaderune Pen Pals

Balabac, Palawan August 15, 2019 (Daily Mail Story)
A young boy was killed after being snatched from a boat by a saltwater crocodile in the southern Philippines in front of his horrified siblings.

The 10-year-old was on board the small wooden boat with his two older siblings near the town of Balabac - notorious for confrontations with the reptiles - when he was yanked into the water.

His father failed to find the boy after an overnight search, but a fisherman discovered the child's half-eaten remains late Monday in a mangrove swamp, a police report said.The Philippines' booming development and population have steadily invaded the creature's habitat, forcing them into ever-smaller stretches of swamp and causing repeated attacks, authorities said.

Humans and crocodiles sharing the same space has resulted in multiple run-ins, in which people have been killed or maimed by the semi-aquatic animals.

'Since 2015, we've never had a year with zero (crocodile) attacks in Balabac, said Jovic Pabello, spokesman for a government council that works to conserve the environment of the Palawan island group that includes Balabac.

'It's a conflict on water use,' he added. Also called the estuarine crocodile, the saltwater is one of the world's largest reptiles, growing to up to six meters (20 feet) long and weighing up to a ton.

In February a crocodile grabbed a 12-year-old boy as he swam at a Balabac river, but he escaped when his siblings hit the reptile's head with oars until it let him go, Pabello said.

A Balabac crab fisherman was killed and half-eaten by a saltwater crocodile in February last year, police said, three months after his 12-year-old niece was dragged away by a crocodile in late 2017.

The girl was never seen again.

The Palawan island group, often called the Philippines' 'last frontier' has a remarkable diversity of flora and fauna, but is threatened by unchecked development.

Not a good way to go.They are incredibly strong. I have heard of saltwater crocs actually capsizing boats to get at the occupants. My sympathies to all those impacted.

Yeah, that would be a horrific way to go. I know that the Palawan Island is very long, and I have read that the saltwater crocs are numerous from the middle point to the southern end. The southern areas of the island of Mindanao is also very bad for those crocodiles. I have read that they swim from Australia to reach the Philippines. They are very huge, and very mean. I wouldn't want to encounter one.
I went to the crocodile farm outside of Davao, Mindanao back in 2010. They had about 100 in a deep pit that had narrow channels that led to other pits so they could move around. They would bite each other, and there was a lot of blood on many of them. The workers had long bamboo poles they they would use to poke them to get them to be more active. The largest crocodile ever captured came from that area. It was 20 ft 3 in (6.17 m), and weighed 2,370 lbs (1,075 kg). It is believed to have eaten two villagers which caused the people to hunt it and capture on 3 September 2011. It died about 2 years later. Wild animals don't do so well in captivity.