Crocodile surfaces in Hong Kong’s urban jungle

HONG KONG – A live crocodile has been found dumped in a fish tank at a Hong Kong garbage site, the second time in nine years that a croc has surfaced in the densely populated urban jungle.

Media reports Monday said the 1.2-meter (four foot), five-kilogram (11 pound) croc was thought to have been dumped by a pet owner who found it too hard to handle.

It appeared unharmed and was being cared for at a government animal center, according to The Standard newspaper.

Conservation officials were trying to decide where to relocate the reptile, including whether it would join its predecessor Pui Pui at a wetland park.

Pui Pui, a saltwater crocodile, made headlines after it was spotted in a Hong Kong river in 2003. It eluded hunters including Australian experts for months before it was eventually captured.

Pet shop owners say some residents in the space-starved Chinese city of seven million keep reptiles like snakes or lizard as pets, it is extremely rare for someone to have a pet crocodile.

“People think it is amusing to keep a crocodile at first,” reptile pet shop owner Dio Chan told The Standard.

“But as it grows, they need to buy a larger tank and more food and other equipment and eventually they give up ownership.”