The city of Benxi, 800 kilometers northeast of Beijing was hit by heavy rains early last week. A private crocodile farm near the Taizi River flooded on August 13 as a result and 29 Siamese crocodiles took advantage of the heightened water levels to make good their escape.

In the last 10 days, 15 of them have been recaptured and returned to the farm. One was killed. But 13 of them are still at large.

The Benxi Shuidong Crocodile Park founded in 2000 is a private zoo. It has a total of 31 reptiles with the biggest weighing more than 300 kilograms.

Mai Yingpei, manager of the park, said his crocodiles had never run away before.

"They are doomed if we don't find them as soon as possible because the autumn cold is drawing near," Mai said.

Siamese crocodiles live primarily in tropical and sub-tropical regions, according to experts from the Benxi Wildlife Protection Bureau.

The ideal temperature for these reptiles is above 17 degrees Celsius. The current water temperature in the Taizi River, however, is between 12 and 14 degrees, and it is getting colder.

To make matters worse, the crocodiles might become more aggressive if they don't find enough food in the wild, according to a keeper at the farm.

The park has set up a hotline for people to report crocodile sightings.

"Local police forces have been put on alert and will act on any promising leads, " Wang Yuwei, a local senior police officer, said.

(China Daily August 25, 2005)