A man has electrocuted a 70-kilogram crocodile he found at his farmland in Ho Chi Minh City before skinning and butchering the animal.
The crocodile was found by 41-year-old Duong Van Thanh at a land lot in Pham Van Hai Commune, located in outlying Binh Chanh District, on April 11, Thanh recalled the incident to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday.
The man added he leased the land lot from another person for cultivation.
“I was feeding the fish when my goats and ducks began making strange sounds,” Thanh recounted.
He then checked and spotted a large crocodile by the ditch.
This supplied photo shows the crocodile found at Duong Van Thanh’s farmland in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, April 11, 2021. |
“I was terrified at first, but tried to calm down to think of a way to capture the animal to prevent it from causing harm,” Thanh said.
A neighbor added that he had feared the reptile would harm his children.
With the help from his friend, Thanh electrocuted the crocodile for about five minutes and knocked it unconscious.
The two tied the animal up and weighed it, before skinning and butchering it.
Thanh shared the crocodile meat to his neighbors and kept the skin to remind him of the incident.
According to a forest protection officer, the animal was a Siamese crocodile (crocodylus siamensis), also referred to as a freshwater crocodile.
Duong Van Thanh stands near the ditch where he spotted the crocodile. Photo: Ngoc Khai / Tuoi Tre |
When discovering a crocodile, local residents should not try to catch it and should report to local authorities instead, the officer added.
An official from the Pham Van Hai Commune People’s Committee stated that relevant agencies are working to find out where the crocodile came from.
Two facilities raising more than 3,000 crocodiles are operating in the commune under the management of local authorities, the official added.
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