00:00This creature looks fierce.
00:10With its large body and teeth, it can knock down its enemies.
00:21But in the face of danger,
00:23when it gets lost in the house,
00:27it can't avoid being chased by people.
00:37A boy was also caught in the middle of the Languyan Tawi-Tawi Basin.
00:48The fishermen were affected.
00:53The creature remained in the village for two days.
00:58That's why more than 10 people helped to get it on a makeshift boat.
01:06From the island, they brought more than 18 creatures to the center.
01:13Now, it's under the care of the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Energy of Tawi-Tawi.
01:21This kind of incident is often done by communities that have an endangered creature.
01:30The bite of the creature, the accidental bite of humans,
01:36doesn't mean that you already know the food.
01:39It could be that it has food to eat again,
01:42and it will return to the place where it was caught.
01:44Pangil is an adult saltwater crocodile that was caught in Agusan Marsh in the 1990s.
01:52It was hit by a bullet in the side.
01:56It was shot in fear of being eaten by other animals in its community.
02:02He was brought to us from Agusan with a gunshot wound on his right leg.
02:11A gunshot wound on his right rear, close to his tail.
02:17We treated him. There was no way of bringing him back to the wild because there's already a community there.
02:25Pangil was brought to Davao Crocodile Park,
02:29a facility in Davao accredited by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, or DENR,
02:36to take care of animals such as crocodiles.
02:39Pangil is the oldest and the biggest crocodile that was taken care of in Davao Crocodile Park.
02:46But after almost three decades,
02:50Pangil started to have severe injuries.
02:54Unfortunately, Pangil has a lesion on his left finger on his left foot.
03:02The small wound on his left finger has healed.
03:06Until the tumor became 1.5 kilograms.
03:10It was just a small wound.
03:12And then the management was just like wound management.
03:18One year later, in 2021, the tumor became like a small ping pong ball.
03:24So we took a sample for biopsy.
03:29Because of his age, the operation will be done early.
03:33With the help of 20 specialists, Pangil was operated on in 2023.
03:42It was built by wildlife veterinarians under my leadership and by Doc Bayani Vanderbroek of Davao City.
03:50The veterinary assistants and the Davao Crocodile Park personnel are also here.
03:57We have no choice but to operate and amputate that area.
04:03We computed the dose and we used the lower dose.
04:07Then we divided the dose and we are slowly giving sedatives and tranquilizers.
04:14Because our fear is that we might be successful in removing the tumor.
04:20But we might not wake up later.
04:23After giving him a place to sleep,
04:26Pangil was placed in a squeeze cage where he will be operated.
04:45We are slowly reducing the amount of sedatives and tranquilizers.
04:50We are slowly reducing the number of toes, seeing how deep the tumor went.
04:55At first, when I was removing the toes, it was hard to remove the bone.
05:00So I needed to use an oscillating saw to cut the phalanges, the digits of the feet.
05:13It took three hours before the tumor was removed.
05:17Finally, we completed the procedure for Pangil.
05:22It was really hard for me.
05:24With my team, Doc Bayani, things became much more manageable.
05:29The post-op care, I think, will be one of the most difficult tasks of Team Pangil.
05:37Because for now, it looks like we closed his wound well.
05:43But, of course, when Pangil moves,
05:49the stump that we left can open up.
05:53The antibiotics, the pain medications,
05:58how to prevent flies that will be attracted in that wound area.
06:03Five months passed.
06:06I brought Pangil again.
06:09His wound was slowly healing,
06:12but there were still surgical sutures or stitches left.
06:16The absorbables won't last long.
06:19And because it doesn't melt, it's still there.
06:23So we will try to remove it.
06:32One year later.
06:42Pangil can now move the part of his foot that was operated on.
06:48One year after I took care of Pangil,
06:51we were entrusted with the management of Davao Crocodile Park
06:56for his funeral in January this year.
06:59Pangil died due to complications of his skin cancer or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma.
07:10If Pangil grew up with human care,
07:15Moki Sr. had a different fate.
07:20He was hospitalized until he died in 2019.
07:27He was fed by the wildlife there.
07:36In the world of wildlife and humans,
07:40it's important to know that saltwater crocodiles become aggressive,
07:45especially during mating season.
07:48It starts every November until March.
07:53Next time, we will see the crocodiles.
08:00We hope to learn from the people who guide the crocodiles,
08:05especially since we are just a part of their territory.
08:22Thank you for watching Born to be Wild.
08:26For more stories about our nature,
08:29subscribe to the JMA Public Affairs YouTube channel.
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