Archives of The Cold Blooded News

The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society

Volume 31, Number 3;   March, 2004

Escaped HK Croc Returns To Media Spotlight Again

The crafty crocodile - which eluded top Australian croc hunter John Lever and a team of Chinese experts in November and December - has turned up among fish farms on the Hong Kong-Chinese border. The Sunday Morning Post newspaper ran a front page picture of the crocodile, which has grown from 1.2 metres to around 2 metres and looks heftier than on its last sighting in December.

Teams of cameramen and observers spent weeks watching the crocodile repeatedly escape the clutches of would-be capturers in November and December in the rural Yuen Long district. Eventually, after making front page news for weeks and becoming a local celebrity, it slunk off out of the spotlight and has not been seen since mid-December.

Now the crocodile, believed to be an escaped pet or a creature that has swum to Hong Kong from a reptile farm in mainland China, has reappeared kilometres away in a river surrounded by fish farms. A fish farmer working near the crocodile's new stretch of water told the newspaper: "It never comes up this side of the bank. I think it's too steep for it. Of course I also have 10 dogs."

A government official said there were no immediate plans to try to capture the crocodile again. However, he said the Chinese team had not yet given up on their hopes of snaring it.

The crocodile was named Person Of The Year in a radio poll in January for characterising what commentators said was Hong Kong people's desire for freedom.