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PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER (Manila) 18 October 04 Conqueror of crocodiles (Constantino Tejero)
Brady Barr, world-renowned herpetologist popularly known as ‘Dr. B’, has an extraordinary passion. While his wife in Costa Rica was awaiting the arrival of their firstborn, he was swimming in Disulap River in San Mariano, Isabela, trying to catch crocodiles.
Barr was shooting an episode for the National Geographic Channel's series "Crocodile Chronicles" to be released next year.
Barr is a celebrated expert on crocodiles, alligators, caimans, gavials; and also snakes, anacondas, boa constrictors, pit vipers. He and his team captured the second-largest Orinoco crocodile caught in the last 25 years, and the longest and heaviest anaconda on record in Venezuela.
Barr was in the country for the first time to study the aquatic reptile, particularly the Philippine crocodile (Crocodylus mindorensis), one of 23 crocodilian species on earth, and one of two species in the country.
Discovered on Mindoro as a new species in 1935, the freshwater crocodile is endemic to the Philippines, generally restricted to inland wetlands. (The other species, the Estuarine Crocodile or Crocodylus porosus, occurs widely along coastal areas and in the sea from India to Australia.)
It is harmless, even shy, unless provoked. At a maximum length of 2.5 meters, it burrows in limestone areas and hides in small caves by a lake, marsh or creek.
"The caves are very small that when you meet a croc there, it can't even open its mouth," jokes Dutch wildlife biologist Merlijn van Weerd, who works for the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park Conservation Project. "It is a true Filipino - very small, a bit shy, and extremely friendly."
The crocodile is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) as critically endangered, the most threatened crocodile species in the world.
After disappearing in Mindoro, it was rediscovered in 1999 in San Mariano, Isabela, which was declared a sanctuary in 2001.
Van Weerd, a team leader of Mabuwaya Foundation's Crocodile Rehabilitation, Observance and Conservation (CROC), a research project to safeguard the Philippine crocodile in the wild, says the reptile is surviving mainly because of the caves.
"If Filipinos let it slip away, they'll only have themselves to blame," says Barr. "We don't know their number. If it's 50, we're in big trouble."
CROC says, once widely distributed throughout the Philippines, the reptile is now restricted to a few remote areas in Mindanao, Negros and Luzon, with a population believed to be less than 100.
Foreign and local conservationists have joined forces to save the species: Isabela State University and Leiden University (the Netherlands), in cooperation with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, local governments and local communities.
Billboards in Ilocano, Filipino and English have been raised; T-shirts, information flyers and brochures distributed. Reforestation of the crocodile's habitats is ongoing.
Breeding in captivity has been successful, and more subpopulations have been discovered in Isabela, particularly in Divilacan and Palanan.
Van Weerd says the species' growing population could be because of the caves and conservation efforts, or because of indigenous people such as the Kalingas and the Agtas, who link crocodiles to their ancestors and thus protect them.
The Philippine crocodile is now totally protected under the Wildlife Act of 2001, which has heavy penalties for violations.
Barr approaches a crocodile without any special gadgets. It's just muscles against muscles, he says, aware that those jaws can bite down at 3,000 lbs per sq in, and the back covered with a dorsal armor of long bony plates.
"I've seen a lot of bullets lodged in that coat of armor," he says.
"Crocodiles are) some of the most powerful animals on the planet. They explode in a single intense burst of energy, but only briefly, then they get exhausted. They can exhaust themselves to death... The longer the stress, the bigger the chance they will die."
In a holding pen in San Mariano, Barr demonstrates how to catch a croc to a crowd that included media people from Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines.
He wades in the puddle, slowly approaches one, tentatively touches its head, then grabs and grapples with it while gripping it by the neck, holding its throat, clenching its body between his thighs as it thrashes about. For its size, the animal's burst of energy is indeed incredible.
In the explosive struggle, Barr scrapes his knuckles against the concrete fence, but he wouldn't let go until the creature kept still. When he turns it on its back, it becomes helpless (like a turned turtle).
The day marked his capture of his 21st crocodile species. Now Barr’s quest is down to two: The Chinese alligator and the fals gareal of Borneo.
The NGC fact sheet says: "Brady Barr stands to become the first person to ever capture all 23 species of crocodilians in the wild."
Laid on the table, the animal is measured and sexed (female). It will soon be released to its natural habitat, with a radio transmitter to monitor the radius of its range, diet, and routine. Barr says every fact has to be checked by three experts, and he acknowledges the local scientists' role.
"It's a lot easier to bring a croc back from the brink of extinction," he says, explaining that, when hatching their eggs, the temperature can be controlled to produce a male or a female. Then all one has to do is, of course, produce more females.
"They really are the ultimate survivors," he continues. "They're resistant to diseases. They produce a lot of eggs. They're smart. They've been in the planet for millions of years, they know what to avoid."
Brady finds snakes very, very stressful. "Snakes scare me. You can make big mistakes with a croc, it's very forgiving, but with snakes - it's just too fast! But I like the big snakes, the non-venomous ones."
A crocodile's body is not as flexible as a snake's and it is not as fast; the reach of its jaws is limited to left and right, while a snake can turn back, rotate or recoil. A croc doesn't have the snake's venom either.
"My family is very, very nervous, but they know it's my passion," Barr says. "I'd be 42 soon, but I feel like 142. My body aches, my knees are so bad... parasites... drugs for tropical diseases... And there are the 13 episodes for NGC every nine months. To keep up with everything - it's killing!"
Conqueror of crocodiles

Mindblowing story, I hope to meet Dr. Barr arounf this Christmas if he comes to his Mom's house for the Holiday's. They are a truly amazing family.
What an impressive specimen (of humanity)
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Jeremy J. Anderson
snakepimp.com
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No one in the world ever gets what they want, and that is beautiful. Everybody dies frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful.