KOTA KINABALU: A crocodile has been shot dead in the drainage system of a housing area in Sandakan hours after becoming the subject of a viral WhatsApp video.

       State Wildlife Department officers went to the scene after receiving a report of the sighting at 3pm on Sunday (Aug 15), Sandakan branch wildlife officer Hussein Muin said.

       Video footage of the crocodile in a drain along Taman Fajar Batu 7 had gone viral on WhatsApp prior to the report being made.

       "We started monitoring for potential human-wildlife conflict after the residents' report, but the team failed to trace the crocodile during the daytime," he said in a statement on Monday (Aug 16).

       "Monitoring continued at night, and at 9.15pm we managed to spot and shoot dead the 1.37m (4.5ft) male crocodile in the drain near Al Fajr Mosque there.

       "The carcass has been taken away for burial," he added.