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A Croc and a Hard Place
01-Jun-2008

Nonchalantly holding a fish in one hand, a smile on face, she leans over to the snarling carnivorous reptile and waits for it to devour……

On the long road from Phnom Krom Mountain in Siem Reap is a crocodile feeding station. It is open daily for tourists curious about the infamous reptiles. It’s an added income to an industry that is facing an uncertain and potentially bleak future.

“This year the price of the baby crocodile market is high” beams Mrs. Ear Chhoo, chief of the crocodile feeding station. “My crocodiles’ eggs hatched before others so I got a good price.” This isn’t always the case. Dramatically rising costs in the price of fish and a contracting market is creating a strain on Cambodia’s numerous feeding stations.

The fashion industry’s huge demand for crocodile skin ensured a flurry of breeding stations to open in the 1990’s as Cambodian crocodiles are second to none for the quality of their hides. Thai and Vietnamese traders snapped up thousands of live baby crocodiles to feed up themselves in order to sell abroad. As the market got flooded and neighbouring countries successfully established their own breeding farms, prices dropped dramatically.

“It is not so difficult to find a market at the moment,” says Mrs. Chhoo as Thai and Vietnamese traders are still coming to the stations to buy crocodiles. They are bought primarily to feed up and sell to China, who buys second hand through Thailand and Vietnam. Not only do the Chinese like the quality of the skins but they also consider the meat a fine cuisine.

Raising the crocodiles in Cambodia in order to sell the hides directly would be a more sustainable business but the Kingdom is only just starting to gain a sophisticated skin processing system, leaving it still reliant on foreign traders. While there is a market presently for the crocodiles, the worry is that it will disappear in the future. “We will die if the Thai and Vietnamese dealers stop buying” Mrs. Chhoo says.

Even though the price for baby crocodiles is currently high, Mrs. Chhoo does not expect it to stay at that level when other crocodile stations hatch their eggs. According to Mr. Cheng Vibolrith, Chief of Fisheries Administration in Siem Reap, there are 429 official crocodile feeding stations. With the inflation explosion, the price of everything has risen, temporally including the price of crocodiles. Mrs. Chhoo explains that presently an un-hatched crocodile fetches 15 USD, when before it was only 10 USD. Small babies that have just hatched are selling the most as traders just aren’t interested in buying the larger adults. The most popular selling crocodiles are the same size as a gecko.

Throwing food for the baby crocodiles to gobble, she elaborates; “So far, small crocodiles are worth more than the big crocodiles because they are buying them to take abroad to feed. The big crocodiles weigh 100 Kg and are 3 meters in length. If we want to sell them, we have to measure them and 1.50 meters cost 80 USD. It used to be worth 380 USD.”

Even accounting for the brief current rise, the price of baby crocodiles has dropped over the years. With the rising price of the rats, snakes and fish that it takes to feed the reptiles, crocodile breeders are really feeling the bite. It takes a significant amount of food to support a crocodile feeding station with even a baby crocodile eating 3g of meat per day.

Feeding the crocodiles is not easy. They require a constant fill of fresh fish and meat. The most difficult period to feed crocodiles is in the first year because they are susceptible to colder weather and can die if not treated carefully. Crocodiles have to be fed for 7 years until they can bear eggs and it then takes a further 72 days for the eggs to hatch. The baby crocodiles can only be sold during July to August but the larger crocodiles can be sold at any time.

Mrs. Chhoo laughs when asked if feeding the crocodiles is dangerous. “Feeding crocodiles is not hazardous if we are strong and careful,” she says. Although the perception of crocodiles is of dangerous hungry killers, Mrs. Chhoo assured; “I have raised crocodiles for years and it has never caused me or my neighbors any danger.”

The General of Fisheries Administration in Phnom Penh, Mr. Nov Thouk, states Cambodia has started exporting crocodiles’ hide to foreign countries in 2008 and this business will help support the feeding stations. According to Mr Nov, Cambodia exports 10, 000 crocodiles’ hides per year with 800 crocodile raising places nation wide and the market will expand, bringing relief to those whose livelihoods are dependent on the most fearsome of reptiles.

May Titthara
Photos by Heng Chivoan

A Croc and a Hard Place01-Jun-2008

Nonchalantly holding a fish in one hand, a smile on face, she leans over to the snarling carnivorous reptile and waits for it to devour……

A Croc and a Hard Place
01-Jun-2008