ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Siem Reap Crocodile Farm

Updated on June 16, 2011

Siem Reap Crocodile Farm

The Siem Reap Crocodile Farm is located at the southern end of Siem Reap town along the road to Tonle Sap Lake. The collection holds about three hundred crocodiles in all. Visitors are charged $3.00 for entrance. It is much less for Cambodian nationals.

The collection was first opened in or around 1976 and operated as a zoo under the management of the Ministry of Agriculture before being taken over by the present owner in 1989 They keep principally Siamese Crocodiles Crocodylus siamensis. Animals are used for supply food for the nearby restaurant and leather for goods manufactured and sold in the zoo giftshop.

The crocodile farm was said by Lim Chhay, the present owner,to have been used by the Khmer Rouge who brought people there and fed them to the crocodiles*.

There are at least three other crocodile farms in the Siem Reap area and one restaurant ' The Dead Fish Cafe' with a crocodile pit.

Source

The information below is taken directly from my travel journal The Itinerant ZooKeeper.

I walked on over to the Butterfly Garden and Bar. A very tranquil and relaxing place with shade and numerous butterflies a major plus. Not very big, more a netted garden than anything but masses of plants and fruit trees which included Avocado, Mango, Pomegranate, Banana, Cashew apple, Dragon eye's fruit, Custard apple amongst others. There were only about six species of butterfly but dozens of them. I thought the fact that butterflies outside the garden were trying to get in was a good sign.

Afterwards I visited the infamous Siem Reap Crocodile farm with the belief I would be shocked. I wasn't, so that was a pleasant surprise. I suppose it helped that I could get myself into the frame of mind that I was visiting a farm and not a zoo or conservation centre or anything with the slightest apparent or obvious aspiration or inclination in that direction (I suppose the only hiccup here was the ticket which stated "Help preserve wild animals 611"). The farm shop told the story with crocodile eggs, teeth and leather being the main products for sale along with the inevitable skulls and stuffed deaders. Well I suppose killing the domestic animals may actually preserve the wild ones.

Basking Crocodiles

Source

I had been informed that this place held species other than crocodiles. I saw none. There were numerous neglected empty and deteriorating rearing pens suggesting this place is in decline. Hopefully it is terminal.

The occupied enclosures for the smaller growing animals were practical, providing sufficient space, clean water and somewhere both to bask or escape the sun. Water depth seemed to be okay.

For the larger animals it seemed they were overstocked and the water was muddy, not that mud is a problem and is inevitable in a pen of this type. The perimeter of the enclosure was divided into numerous nesting pens, none of which were occupied. I didn't think that any of the animals in these large pens looked particularly stressed or out of condition but then this is very difficult to assess with crocodilians, especially in a quick visit.

The thing that disturbed me most about this place were the two pens of approximately 3-4 year old animals that had no tails. If these 'mutilates' had included a couple without limbs then the horrible suspicious thoughts I had would probably never have entered my head. I noted only a single semi adult animal with the same condition but as many of the animals were in the water there could well have been more.

 

Note:

*A crocodile farm with a grisly past struggles to attract tourists - Phnom Penh Post - 4 June 2009

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)