A video on Facebook recently went viral - the video shows a man who wore a BN shirt cut the head of a crocodile with a chainsaw.
The video which was 30 seconds long showed a man slowly cutting the head off a crocodile. It is not known why he is doing this and for what purpose. Is it because he wanted crocodile leather? In case you didn't know, crocodile leather is one of the best leathers there is in the world - many famous brands such as Gucci and Versace include crocodile leather in their products.
Or is it because he wanted crocodile meat which is a delicacy in some parts of the world including Australia, China, India and USA? Yes, the United States of America! There is even a YouTube tutorial where an American shows you how to skin, debone and remove the flesh out of crocodiles. The video has 20 million views and 20,000+ comments - it just goes to show how many people are interested in making a delicacy out of crocodiles.
Our Filipino neighbors even have crocodile lechon which was described by Sonny from the Best Ever Food Review show to be the most OUTRAGEOUS food in the Philippines. “That is really tasty! I didn't expect that! Crispy, gelatinous - it's got some firm gooeyness to it.”, said Sonny in the video. It is believed that consuming crocodile meat can cure certain ailments such as asthma.
Back to the video on Facebook which shows the man cutting the crocodile head with a chainsaw - it is not known which part of Malaysia it is filmed but there has been speculation that it is filmed in Sarawak. However, eating crocodile meat or killing crocodiles has always been a taboo for the natives in Sarawak especially the Ibans and Bidayuhs. For the Bidayuhs, there is a legend called Tayung Ngaring. Tayung Ngaring was a Bidayuh woman who met a crocodile in distress - the reptile had a wood stuck in its mouth. Tayung Ngaring then helped the crocodile remove the piece of wood. From then on, a covenant was struck between the crocodile and the Bidayuhs - the Bidayuh would not kill crocodiles and crocodiles would not attack the Bidayuhs. As for the Ibans, they believe that the crocodiles are a manifestation of a river's spirit or Ribai. It is believed that killing a crocodile would bring them misfortune later. Both Ibans and Bidayuhs also believe that once you kill and eat a crocodile, you cannot get close to any river as the crocodile will attack you in order to avenge its kin.
But in recent years, things have changed. Back in April this year, there was a video that went viral on Facebook and WhatsApp that depicted a Bidayuh man skinning and removing the flesh from a crocodile. In that video, the Bidayuh man was astonished by the sheer size of the reptile that he was skinning and even said that he had orders coming in for crocodile meat. The video was later taken down from Facebook due to its graphic content.
Regarding crocodile hunting and its legality, the Government of Sarawak has declared that 60% of the 20,000 wild crocodiles in the state can be hunted. Not only that, Sapuan Ahamad, Director of Sarawak's Forestry Department, has revealed that the status of crocodiles in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has been lowered from Appendix I to Appendix II, meaning that crocodiles can be hunted and killed for their meat and skin.
So there is a possibility that the video was filmed in Sarawak. What do you think of the whole ordeal? Would you try crocodile meat? Let me know in the comments.
Aaron Colt is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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