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NRI Latest News: In a sad move, a crocodile farmer in northern Thailand, Natthapak Khumkad or “Crocodile X,” is euthanizing more than 100 critically endangered Siamese crocodiles.
This was to prevent the reptiles from having an avenue of escape into the community after the raging Typhoon Yagi destroyed their vivarium. The heavy rain brought by the typhoon caused massive flooding and washing away of walls, threatening public safety.
“I had to make the most difficult decision of my life to kill them all,” 37-year-old Natthapak said to CNN. “My family and I discussed whether the wall collapsed, the damage to people’s lives would be far bigger than we can control. It would involve people’s lives and public safety.”
Typhoon Yagi causes chaos: On September 22, as the storm pounded the region, Natthapak euthanized 125 crocodiles in just one day. Typhoon Yagi, considered Asia’s strongest storm this year, has already claimed at least nine deaths in Thailand. Experts say that typhoons and hurricanes are getting much more deadly and ferocious because of climate change.
“Storms such as Yagi are intensifying due to global warming, primarily because warmer ocean waters carry more energy for storms, further resulting in higher wind speeds and much greater rainfall,” said Dr. Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore.
Climate change threat of intensification: The vivid signs are not in the losses, but rather in the impacts of climate-induced disasters on wildlife: flooding that separates an animal from its family, drowns it, or destroys its habitat. This year’s unprecedented downpours have brought risks closer, as recently witnessed in Gujarat: dozens of crocodiles were seen roaming in urban centers, and rescues were called in to return them to their original habitats.
The farm has been operating for 17 years, and it has seen many rainy seasons, but this year was uncontrollable rains that ate into the walls of the crocodile enclosure, creating a problem for Natthapak.
“I had to make a decision in less than 24 hours when I saw the erosion progress rapidly,” he recalled, revealing that he had to electrocute to kill the crocodiles.
Community safety first: Lamphun’s fishery office chief, Pornthip Nualanong, welcomed the achievement as “daring and prudent,” adding that, in fact, if mature-sized crocodiles managed to escape and reach paddy fields, it would threaten a lot. Among the group put down was Ai Harn, the oldest male crocodile and pack leader whose reputation had been huge due to its massive size and breeding ability.
Many thousands of Siamese crocodiles were hunted out for their commercial value, and are bred commercially, with estimates suggesting fewer than a few hundred remain in the wild. For instance, in Thailand, an annual estimated 6 to 7 billion Thai baht (over ₹18,000 crore) are generated from crocodile farming, pointing toward an intricate relationship that exists between conservation and business.
