"MONITOR LIZARD" at my house

An escaped crocodile from a nearby farm created frenzy in Sandakan yesterday.

The 4.5m-long reptile was spotted only 10m from my house.

I thought it was only a monitor lizard as we see them a lot around here. I never expected a crocodile to come and sunbathe outside my house.

The salt-water crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) had escaped from a nearby farm which breeds crocodiles for commercial use.

I and 10 other villagers took an hour to restrain the 500kg beast.

At first, there were only five of us catching the crocodile.

The 500kg beast was not easy to handle as it kept swinging its tail at us. Fortunately, other villagers came to assist at the right time.

The farm owner fails to increase security along the farm perimeter. The farm is situated next to my village.

Fortunately, there were no untoward incidents today.

The owner must take responsibility for this incident before lives are lost.

The crocodile was later sent to the Sandakan police station before it was releases to the owner at 1pm yesterday.

The owner of the crocodile farm refused to comment on the incident.