KUANTAN - A 24-year-old technician returned home to find an unexpected guest on Friday.
When Woon Tien Hao arrived home from work at 8pm, he spotted a baby crocodile near the shoe rack at his Jalan Haji Junid's house.
The reptile's mouth was sealed with blue duct tape.
No one in his family believed him when he alerted them, thinking that it could be a monitor lizard which had wandered in. The only family member who saw the reptile was Tien Hao's father, Woon Wee Kee, 51, who returned home a few minutes later.
Wee Kee said since the 76cm-long animal appeared weak, he squeezed a few drops of water into the reptile's mouth and kept it inside a big box.
"Crocodiles are usually known to be aggressive, but this one appeared tame. Maybe because it is still young.
"The entire neighbourhood was shocked about the crocodile as there are no rivers nearby."
Wee Kee said he then contacted a friend who later informed the State Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan).
The department's officers came to his house on Saturday morning to take the animal away.
State Perhilitan director Khairiah Mohd Shariff said the department later released the buaya tembaga (estuarine crocodile) into Sungai Kuantan here.
She said they were investigating how the reptile ended up at the housing area and whether anyone nearby was keeping it as a pet.
She said the animal, weighing almost a kilogramme, was an endangered saltwater crocodile and those caught in possession of any endangered animal could be charged under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010, with a maximum fine of RM100,000 or jail up to five years.
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