Often Used For Fishing, The Joint Team In Riau Islands Pasang Baliho 'Awa Buaya' In The Rawa-rawa Region

The joint team installed a crocodile-prone warning billboard in the Sei Lekop Village area, Bintan Regency, Riau Islands Province, Monday (3/7/2023). (ANTARA-HO/UPTD Damkar East Bintan District)

The joint team, the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Satpol PP, Damkar, and kelurahan installed warning billboards prone to crocodiles in Sei Lekop Village, Bintan Regency, Riau Islands Province (Kepri). The billboard measuring about 1x1 meters was installed right in the swamp arena of Sei Lekop Village today because of the appearance of a fairly large crocodile last Saturday, July 1. "Local residents saw crocodile sightings on the surface of the swamp, then reported to Sei Lekop Village," said Head of UPTD Damkar, East Bintan District, Bintan Regency, Nurwendi, Antara, Monday, July 3. After receiving the residents' reports, he said, the joint team immediately moved down to the crime scene (TKP) to conduct a survey as well as install billboards with the words "Alert Crocodile-Prone Regions". The installation of billboards aims to keep residents of Sei Lekop Village away from crocodile-prone points to prevent unwanted things. According to him, the area has often been used by local residents to fish. "With this billboard, residents should no longer move around the swamp, because it is very risky. Crocodiles, if hungry, will definitely appear, and could prey on humans," he said. Nurwendi said that his party also mapped other crocodile-prone points in the Bintan Regency area to install similar billboards as an effort to urge residents to remain alert to crocodiles. One of the locations where the billboards will be installed is in the former PT Korindo Abadi area. "Here is a pond used by PT Korindo Abadi which is suspected to be a crocodile habitat," said Nurwendi. In almost all sub-districts in Bintan Regency, there are swamp crocodiles that are already children.

The large reptiles are claimed to come from the former pool of PT Korindo Abadi and spread to the swampy area in Bintan Regency.