CROCODILES ROCK THAILAND AFTER RAIN FREES 100. As quick as Thong-yoo Sirisarn could cry "crocodile," she was fending off suspicious questions from 30 journalists and a small contingent of police officers. No force of disbelief could budge the 67 year-old woman from her tale. She was sweeping her wooden house by the canal. She heard her grandson yell: "Crocodile! Crocodile!", "I saw it all - big mouth, big head, almost 1 meter long," she said.
Crocodile fever swept Bangkok after floods liberated more than 100 crocodiles from pits in small farms about 130 miles north of the capital. The crocodiles slipped into the Chao Phraya River, which runs into Bangkok, and reportedly have bitten two villagers while they were fishing. Rising floodwaters commonly bring rats and snakes to the capital, and it was only a small leap of logic for residents to become convinced the escaped crocodiles might also be headed their way. The possibility that such dangerous intruders could be lurking in the city's elaborate system of canals is generating more curiosity than fear.
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