Lamphun, Thailand - In late September, a Thai crocodile farmer was forced to put down 125 endangered Siamese crocodiles after their enclosure was devastated in a major typhoon.

As a massive typhoon hit Lamphun in northern Thailand, 37-year-old crocodile farmer Natthapak Khumkad was faced with an impossible choice – kill his 125 crocodiles, or risk them escaping into the population.

The enclosure had sustained serious storm damage, with one wall at significant risk of collapsing. With nowhere else to take them and the risk posed by escaped 13-foot crocodiles too high, he was forced to put them down on September 22.

In an interview with CNN, Khumkad revealed just how difficult and traumatic the decision was and the harrowing circumstances in which it had to be done.

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"I had to make the most difficult decision of my life to kill them all," he said. "My family and I discussed if the wall collapsed the damage to people’s lives would be far bigger than we can control."

"It would involve people’s lives and public safety," he said. "I had to make a decision in less than 24 hours when I saw the erosion progressed rapidly."

Khumkad put down his more than 125 Siamese crocodiles via electrocution, having informed local authorities of the situation and exhausting all other options.

The decision was devastating and described as the hardest of his life, especially since Siamese crocodiles are critically endangered and rarely found in the wild anymore.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the Siamese crocodile is "considered one of the world's most endangered reptiles in the world," with only a few hundred left in the wild.

They are mostly found in the Mekong River basin and wetlands across Thailand and Cambodia but have rapidly declined in numbers due to hunting, habitat loss, and human disturbance.

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According to Pornthip Nualanong, chief of Lamphun's fishery office, and one of the officials contacted by Khumkad before the incident, the decision might have been distressing, but it was necessary.

Khumkad's decision to put down 125 Siamese crocodiles, "Was a brave and responsible decision to take, since if any of those grown-up crocs were running loose in nearby paddy fields it would pose [a serious risk to] public safety," Nualanong told CNN.