Nai Harn crocodile playing hard to get

Phuket’s latest, and as yet unnamed crocodile, is doing a good job of evading officials, fishermen and capture, so far.

Officers from the Phuket Fisheries Officers and lifeguards at Yanui and Nai Harn Beaches are patrolling and warning beachgoers about the recent sightings of a crocodile in the rough seas off the beaches.

Red flags and signs have been put erected on Nai Harn and Yanui Beaches to warn tourists of a crocodile in the water.

Read yesterday’s story HERE.

Swimmers are being warned not to go swimming at Nai Harn beach today by officials from the Rawai Municipality. Officers were patrolling the beach yesterday as well as it emerged that the creature was a 2-3 metre crocodile (media reports have the crocodile anywhere from 1.2 – 3 metres).

Rawai Mayor Aroon Solos says, “We were patrolling the beach all day yesterday and will continue today (July 20). Yesterday the crocodile was last seen on the right end of the beach, close to Laem Krating. We could see it clearly for about 30 seconds. There were sightings all day. We could see it about 200 metres from the shore and 50 metres from the rocks.”

“Even whilst we continue to warn tourists not to go into the water, we can still see some group of tourists who are ignoring our instructions. This is a difficult situation to because we don’t have any clear management guidelines for what to do with this crocodile.”

“We are afraid that the crocodile will move on to areas. We are cooperating with local fishermen to help track and put fishing nets in the sea to capture the crocodile. I am still not sure if this will work.”