Thursday’s attempt by Fisheries Department officials to capture the Phuket crocodile first seen swimming off of Bang Tao Beach in drone footage last week was unsuccessful. However, a second attempt early this morning was a success.
Last night, a team of crocodile catchers attempted to force the crocodile to land using fishing nets.
However, during the initial capture attempt, the crocodile, struggling to free itself from the net, collided with a boat being used in the mission and managed to escape after tearing a hole in the net.
Finally, at 3:30am today, the crocodile was caught after it was forced to land in the western part of the lagoon where it was seen on Wednesday.
Nikom Suksawat from the Surat Thani Fisheries Dept said: “In the end, we had to use five fishing nets to catch the crocodile without hurting it.
“The crocodile is about three meter long, but we’re unable to determine if it is a freshwater or seawater crocodile yet.”
Nikom said the two marks of the back of the beast’s head, however, led the team to believe it was a freshwater crocodile.
An official from the Phuket Fisheries Dept added, “The crocodile was not very fierce. In fact, it was rather playful and clever. It did not want to go near the land as it knew it was going to be caught. We had to be very careful with it,” he said.
“It took us almost all night to catch it,” he added.
The crocodile will be taken to the Phuket Coastal Fisheries Research and Development Centre where it will be inspected by Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong.
Story: The Phuket News
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