Hong Kong's celebrity crocodile -- snared this week after seven months on the run -- is apparently stunned by its captivity and has refused to eat since it was caught, a wildlife official said yesterday.
The croc, who was first spotted in a muddy creek last November, gained celebrity status here by avoiding persistent attempts at capture with dart guns, harpoons and traps set by expert crocodile hunters from across the region.
The reptile finally walked into a snare in the creek on Thursday morning. It was later transferred to an animal center where it has seemed frightened and has refused to eat, Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Director Thomas Chan (
Veterinarians plan to feed the croc, which they estimate is four years old, with medicine instead, he said, without naming the treatment.
On Thursday, government vet Eric Tai (
Experts have yet to determine the reptile's gender, Tai said, but added that they suspected it was a "baby girl."
Idy Wong (
Authorities spent around HK$300,000 (US$38,000) in their efforts to catch the croc, government spokesman Donald Lam said.
Though the croc was small -- just 1.5m long and weighing 14kg -- officials had been concerned that it would grow and become a public danger. Even so, this rare visitor won the hearts of Hong Kong's urbanites who are more likely to spot crocs on nature TV shows or as material for designer handbags and shoes. Some locals called it "Gucci" after the Italian designer brand, and one radio station named it "personality of the year."
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
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Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
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