Two critically endangered Siamese crocodiles departed for their new permanent home in Singapore Zoo on August 15 2017 after being cared for by the KFBG Wild Animal Rescue Centre for several years. The duo will be education exhibits, raising awareness about the plight of their kind.

Remarkably, both were smuggled into Hong Kong as illegal pets and were later found abandoned by their owners in rubbish bins. The older of the two, a nine-year-old female, was left inside a glass tank at a refuse collection point in Tai Po in December 2012. 

In 2012, the female Siamese crocodile arrived along with its glass tank at the Wild Animal Rescue Centre and received a check up by the vet. On arrival it measured about a metre from snout to the tip of its tail.

2017, over its four-and-a-half year stay at the Wild Animal Rescue Centre, it grew more than 1.5 times in length. Just before departure it measured 1.8m and weighed 24.8kg. This species can grow up to 3.8m.

The rescue team was happy she had found a new home not only because she would have a better environment but also because she was becoming grumpier and more difficult to handle as she grew.

2017, the rescue team captured, restrained and placed the Siamese crocodile into a custom-built wooden crate so it could fly to Singapore safely and comfortably.

The younger reptile was only a hatchling, measuring about 50 cm, when it was found discarded in Yuen Long in August 2014. Now three years old, it is 74cm long and weighs 1.14kg, 18 times heavier and stronger than day one.

The Siamese crocodile hatchling gets weighed and measured on reaching the Wild Animal Rescue Centre in 2014.

Siamese crocodiles were thought to be virtually extinct in the wild in 1992, though studies later found a few small, severely fragmented populations. These freshwater crocodiles are native to Southeast Asia but most likely remain only in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

Although the species is almost wiped out in the wild, hundreds of thousands are farmed each year for their highly prized leather which can be used to make handbags, shoes, and accessories.

It is illegal to trade the species internationally without permits according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

It is very unwise and dangerous to buy a young crocodile as a pet and, when it grows in size, discard it in a public refuse area. Think twice.

Please do not support the illegal wildlife trade. You can help save this species and others by not buying exotic animals to keep as pets, by not buying leather products made from crocodile skin, and by reporting any suspected illegal wildlife trade activities to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department at 1823 or the KFBG hotline at 2483 7200.