A hungry crocodile was captured after escaping from an enclosure when its elderly owner died.

The 15ft-long croc was seen by locals resting in a pond about 50 metres away from a Buddhist temple where it had lived with a monk, aged 75, in Chaiyaphum, Thailand, on November 22 afternoon.

The crocodile roamed around the compound for a while until locals saw it and immediately called the local animal rescue group.

When the team arrived, they found it lying on the cement floor of the temple's pavilion. They thought it would be easy to capture the reptile but it was agile.

They had a run around with the reptile together with five men who live nearby since they cannot capture it easily.

After almost half an hour of chasing, they were finally able to capture the crocodile and secured its legs using ropes.

The village chief Sangad Termphan said that the crocodile was given as a gift to a monk seven years ago when it was still a hatchling and has been living with him until he died a few days before.

After going hungry for days, the reptile broke out of its enclosure as no one was left to take care of it.

Sangad said: “The late abbot asked for the hatchling from a devotee who operated a crocodile farm. He had built the enclosure for the reptiles and also brought some more animals like boar and birds. He created an enclosure for injured animals as well.”

Sangad added that after the monk died, there was no one to keep an eye on the animals and the cages had gone weak.

He said: “After he died the enclosure was left in a vulnerable condition and there was no one to guard it so the crocodile just escaped.”

After the rescue operation, the crocodile was taken into a pickup truck and was taken to the farm of the man who gave it to the monk as a gift.