Catching up with Pui Pui, crafty croc who captivated Sars-weary Hongkongers

Pui Pui has one eye on the thick Perspex wall that separates her from curious visitors at Hong Kong Wetland Park. After five motionless minutes under water, she ascends gracefully, only nostrils and eyes breaking the surface. The crocodile fills her lungs, then sinks just as slowly to the bottom of the pool.

It’s hardly riveting entertainment, given the excitement the crocodile once aroused, but the former RTHK “Personality of the Year” is still the main attraction at the Hong Kong Wetland Park, and has been since she arrived at the specially built enclosure 10 years ago next month.

“We have other, smaller species of crocodiles, but visitors only know Pui Pui. They all come to see her because she’s very famous. She is still the star of the park,” says Vivian Fu, a supervisor of the reserve’s live exhibit unit.

Pui Pui, formerly known as “the Yuen Long crocodile”, became a global media sensation after giving hunters, including a real-life “Crocodile Dundee”, the runaround for more than seven months in the northwestern New Territories.

Since being captured and taken to a temporary home, she has grown almost a metre and piled on 48.5kg, gobbling up a kilogram of dead frogs, chicken and fish once a week. The crocodile, which can grow up to three metres, measures 2.46 metres and now weighs 68kg.

The predator, thought to be a released pet or an escapee, was first spotted by a villager in late October 2003 along a murky creek off the Shan Pui River. Hong Kong had been traumatised by the deadly outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, proposed national security legislation that brought half a million protesters onto the streets, and the suicide of entertainment idol Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing. To cap it all, property prices hit a 20-year low. Repeated failures to catch the crocodile captivated and struck a chord with weary Hongkongers.