Crocs everywhere in Chachoengsao - price plummets meaning farms don't bother to catch escapees

[webfact]

Picture: 77kaoded

 

77kaoded went to the Saochangoke area of Bang Khla district in Chachoengsao province where they interviewed a local kamnan about the number of escaped crocodiles in the area.

 

What they found out was rather scary.

 

This followed the capture of one crocodile who bit a 64 year old woman while she was fishing for prawns.

 

Picture: 77kaoded

 

There are plenty more crocodiles where that came from; in fact there is the potential for thousands since the price of crocodiles plummeted and farm owners don't bother to round up animals that escape. 

 

Pramuk Rojanatan or Kamnan Gae of Sao Changoke is a well known owner of a boxing camp in the area.

 

He said the one that bit the woman most likely came from a crocodile farm of which there are many in the area. 

 

Lots of farms have ceased their businesses because of very low prices. 

 

A two meter croc once valued at 100,000 baht is now worth just 500 baht so when they escape no one bothers to catch them. 

 

When the price was in the 10,000's of baht range they cared, now they don't. 

 

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Picture: 77kaoded

 

He called the situation worrying.

 

When they escape from the farms they are easy to round up at first because they don't know how to swim properly and they tend to bask on the land. Teams can go out at night and catch the reflection of their eyes in lamps. 

 

But once they learn how to swim, that's when the problems really start. They are much harder to catch.

 

Asked by the media if they were being deliberately let go by the farms he believed this was not the case. But he said some farms have 1,000s of crocs even 10,000s. 

 

They pile up next to fences one on top of each other making it easy for the ones on top to escape. 

 

He had made efforts to contact the fisheries department to address the issue. 

 

Picture: 77kaoded

 

But it was getting worse, especially in the rainy season as the banks of the Bang Pakong river burst and water enters adjacent farms meaning many crocs escape that way too. 

 

Ten were captured recently and taken to a facility in Nakhon Sawan. 

 

The main reason behind the fall in the price is that most crocodiles were exported but the quality is lacking and foreign buyers are no longer interested in the skins of Thai crocs.

 

He said that apart from his area there are loads of other crocodile farms in the province that lies to the east of the Thai capital Bangkok. 

 

The media said in their headline that the situation was worrying having heard what the kamnan had to say. 

 

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[worgeordie]

I bet the price of crocodile handbags and shoes have not gone down,

500 THB for a 2 metre specimen , cheaper than a guard dog ...

 

You would have thought they would be selling the meat,with chicken

pork and fish been expensive , they need TAT to do some marketing 

for them ......???? 

regards Worgeordie

[DezLez]

10 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

You would have thought they would be selling the meat,with chicken

pork and fish been expensive , they need TAT to do some marketing 

for them

They should be getting snapped up!

[BritManToo]

AN couldn't find any photos of crocs to post?

[Moonlover]

39 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

AN couldn't find any photos of crocs to post?

They have very good camouflage.