VietNamNet Bridge – Local residents in the province are not allowing their children to approach ponds or the edges of canals, worried that there might be crocodiles in the shrimp ponds.

A large crocodile was captured in the shrimp pond. — Photo dantri.com.vn

This follows the discovery of a 2m-long crocodile by Nguyen Van Du, a farmer from Rau Dua B Hamlet in Hung My Commune in the southern Ca Mau's Cai Nuoc District, in his family's shrimp pond two days ago. The animal weighed almost 50kg.

Du was able to capture the animal with the help of other people, after an hour of trying.

After Du caught the crocodile, an unidentified man came to claim it as his crocodile that had reportedly escaped from his pen two to three years ago.

Du asked the man to pay for the animal, but when he didn't agree, Du sold the crocodile to his neighbour.

"I have received reports about the crocodile and will send people to examine it as well as reassure the local people," Le Thanh Hai, head of the provincial Forest Protection Department, said yesterday afternoon (August 18).

"We will go to the house of the crocodile's buyer to examine it and guide him through the process of building an enclosure for raising the animal to ensure safety," Hai said.

VNS