VietNamNet Bridge – Residents in Hanoi’s Hoang Mai District are concerned that seven of the eight crocodiles that escaped from an unlicensed household farm early this month remaining missing.

Escaped crocodile in Ha Noi must be from unlicenced farm

They are more than a meter long and weigh 10-20 kg each.

Duong Van Vien, the owner of the farm in Linh Nam Commune, has been breeding 30 crocodiles worth VND100 million (US$4,800) when he bought them a year ago.

Eight of them had escaped from their cage in a breeding pool, he said.

On October 11 a local accidentally caught a crocodile while fishing in a canal in Dai Dong commune, 400 meters from Vien’s farm.

A local told VTC News that Vien’s animals sometimes escaped from the farm and entered their fields and they would inform Vien.

If they had been larger, they could have attacked people before Vien captured them, they said.

Le Dinh Xuan, an angler, said worriedly: “He [Vien] was unable to manage small crocodiles, so nobody is sure he can manage larger ones.

“Will such illegal breeding be stopped only after someone has been attacked?”

Trinh Thi N., who has a vegetable farm next to the pool, said she once saw a crocodile entering her field from the pool. “It was small, but I was terrified to see it.”

Nguyen Ba Ky, another local, said: “Since the day Cuong caught the crocodile in the canal, my family has banned our kids from going there, since a crocodile can turn up and eat them at any time.”

Vien admitted to being bitten once by a crocodile while feeding them, and has a large scar on a hand to show for it.

He claims to have a license to run the farm and told VTC News that both the district and commune authorities had given approval.

But Nguyen Van On, head of the Forestry Protection Unit No. 2 in Hanoi, told VTC News: “We have not granted any license for crocodile breeding to any individual or company.”

He had reported about the escape of crocodiles to the sub-department and it would investigate and punish Vien, he added.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre