Phuket’s Croc Hunters

A hunting team spotted the crocodile in an old tin mine lake near Laypang Beach yesterday afternoon (August 30). The 50-rai lake is located about 300 meters from where the crocodile was spotted earlier.

Initially, a team from Thalang District Office was placed to block the crocodile from swimming out of the lake. At about 8.00 pm, a “crocodile whisperer” from Crocodile World along with an experienced crocodile catcher team from Surat Thani started their mission by chasing the reptile with trawls using two boats. There were also two trawls on the sides of the lake, each of them being 300-meter long.

According to the team, they got closer and closer to the animal, but it always managed to dive deep and disappear, even though they turned off the engine not to scare it and rowed quietly. The closest they could reach was about a metre away.

The team tried until 05.30 am today (August 31). When the sun rose, they realized that the crocodile will not submerge after an all-night long hide and seek game. However the team is standing by waiting for it to beach itself to get some sun today.

After finding that it was more difficult than initially thought to catch one crocodile in a huge lake with a depth of 15 meters, the catching team is discussing a new plans for tonight if they don’t succeed today.

PHOTOS: Kritsada Mueanhawong