LAMPHUN — The images of numerous crocodile carcasses being moved at a crocodile farm in Lamphun Province became viral during the flood situation in Thailand’s northern region. The farm’s latest post, on September 27, reveals why the owner had to eliminate many crocodiles on his own farm.
The Facebook page of Nattapak Khumkad, 37, the owner of the crocodile farm, posted images of a crocodile pond showing eroded walls, along with an explanation: “This was the primary reason that forced me to make an urgent decision. On that day, it rained heavily non-stop. The underwater wall collapsed, which was very close to reaching the outer wall.”
He explained that his staff tried to cordon off the area to repair the pond as quickly as possible, but the rain continued to pour relentlessly, making it seem unsafe.
Later, the team considered temporarily relocating the crocodiles, but there was no place that could safely accommodate them.
“It was a crisis that required an extremely urgent decision. I had to use the last resort, which was to remove the crocodiles from the farm by slaughtering them. If it wasn’t absolutely necessary, we wouldn’t have used this method. It was the best, fastest, and safest method in that situation, with the rain still pouring incessantly. Thank you for all the encouragement and understanding.”
Nattapak told Khaosod Online that he has been running the crocodile farm for 17 years. The slaughtered crocodiles were breeding ones that had been together from the beginning, about 17 years. Every year during the rainy season, there had never been such an emergency, but this year in Lamphun, the rain was extremely heavy, and he couldn’t withstand the natural disaster. This year was considered very severe.
“The weather this year seems to be excessively severe. I had to make the most urgent decision. Prevention is better than solving problems later,” he said.
He recounted that the first day of rain wasn’t a problem, but on the second day, the underwater wall collapsed, making him start to panic. He thought he had to find a way to stop it and planned three strategies: 1. Cordon off the area inside the pond, separate the crocodiles to another side, and repair the wall urgently. But the heavy rain made it impossible, and importantly, some crocodiles could crawl over to the damaged side. This plan failed.
Plan 2 was to relocate the crocodiles to other ponds temporarily, but it was such an emergency that no nearby ponds were available, and the crocodiles could cross over to the collapsing wall area. The distance wasn’t much anymore, so they had to resort to Plan 3: relocating the crocodiles after death by electrocuting and then slaughtering them. This was to save the entire farm and others as well.
He said that after consulting with his family, everyone agreed that this had to be done, prioritizing people’s safety. Usually, he doesn’t listen to others much, but this time it was a real crisis. It was a very difficult decision to kill crocodiles he had raised for 17 years. He had gotten offspring and eggs from them every year. He had to accept it; there was no choice left. He has to start all over again.
A total of 125 crocodiles had to be killed, of which 90 were breeding ones, on September 24, 2024. These were the large ones that he couldn’t control if they escaped.
Looking at the empty crocodile pond now, he feels a bit hollow. Just a few days ago, he could still see the crocodiles. He was already attached to these crocodiles because he had gone down to take pictures and create content with them. In the future, the offspring of these crocodiles will take their place.
Regarding the killed crocodiles, he said they didn’t let them go to waste. They utilized them by selling the skins separately, and the meat was sold as roasted crocodile, which was already an original business of his farm. From selling roasted cow and pig, they expanded to roasted crocodile.
“This menu has only recently gained popularity. During the first 10 years, it wasn’t very popular because there was resistance to eating crocodile. But now, eating crocodile meat is more accepted. So the farm makes roasted crocodile, which my farm was the first to do in Thailand,” he said.
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