Lay Pang to be raised at Phuket Zoo after tests show it is an ‘alien species’

By THE NATION

 

 

Phuket Zoo will be the new home of Lay Pang, a crocodile caught in Phuket province a few months ago, after lab tests showed that the reptile was an “alien species” and could not be released to the wild.

 

Lay Pang, which has been ruled to belong to Phuket province, will be moved from the National Institute of Coastal Aquaculture Region 5 to the zoo by mid-December or early January next year, Fisheries Department chief Adisorn Promthep said yesterday.

 

 

The decision to let the zoo raise Lay Pang was to make it easier for people to see it. The zoo currently houses 200 crocodiles.

 

Phuket Zoo manager Pichai Sakulsuan said the 30-year-old zoo was ready to take care of Lay Pang and felt honoured to be entrusted to do so by the Fisheries Department and Phuket province. 

 

The zoo has already prepared a 20-metre enclosure for its new arrival.

Earlier yesterday, Asst Prof Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a deputy dean at Kasetsart University’s Fisheries Department, urged people to not put emotions over rationality in relation to the case. 

 

“Many people really hope that Lay Pang will go back to the nature. But we can’t do that. Given that it is originally not a member of the wilderness, it’s considered an alien species,” the lecturer explained. 

 

 

The results of blood and DNA tests show Lay Pang is of a mixed breed – Crocodolus siamensis and Crocodolus porosus. 

 “It should be noted that the location where Lay Pang was found is not the place where it could survive,” he said.

 

Lay Pang was first spotted in a large pond connected to three hotels in Phuket. The pond was a part of an old mine. 

 

“If the crocodile was spotted in a community, not in forest or faraway sea, we have to arrest it for the safety of both people and the reptile,” he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30331891

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-11-18

 

A mixture of a Siam freshwater crocodile and a Saltie!

Unbelievable that these two species could cross breed. It must have been bred in captivity.

I wonder how it came to be swimming off Phuket's west coast.

 

OK so another alien not deported from Phuket, just kept for commercial gain. 

2 minutes ago, Oziex1 said:

OK so another alien not deported from Phuket, just kept for commercial gain. 

The alien croc will need a work permit.

" we have to arrest it", come along now,come quietly.

regards worgeordie

I hope they take better care of it than they did the orang utan..and most other animals in that dreadful place.

Always turn it into a pair of shoes and a handbag  

The once far and wide Siamese crocodile

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/siamese-crocodile-once-far-wide-crocodiles-part-ii/

 

Human Impact May Be Causing Crocodile Species To Interbreed

https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaenamontanari/2015/10/02/human-impact-may-be-causing-crocodile-species-to-interbreed/#696bbf952cc2

What an affront to animal's dignity :dirty, cramped

6 hours ago, madmitch said:

I hope they take better care of it than they did the orang utan..and most other animals in that dreadful place.

Been there, a truly awful place. 

Did the dolphin prison nearby ever get going?

Lay Pang is just another sex tourist , so let him bang some local Thai croc's .

Isn’t it a farmed crossbreed for the leather industry?


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Will he have to do 90 day reports?