Moya withstood the bombing and traveled from one country to another, but the dean of crocodiles was a captive of his small pond, and he had not come out of it since his arrival at the Belgrade Zoo 83 years ago.
The zoo does not know his exact age, but this week an advertising campaign celebrates his arrival in Belgrade in 1937, from a park in Germany.
"He is old and we respect his long life," explains chief veterinarian in the park, Joseph Advide, as workers push a dead rat to the slow-moving crocodile.
Moya officially became the dean of crocodiles in the world after the death of the famous "Saturn" crocodile last May at the Moscow Zoo, and he was born in 1936.
Newspapers report that during the period when the crocodile moved to Belgrade, Moya was two years old when he arrived in the city in 1937, but the zoo employees consider that this reptile animal exceeded ninety.
Moya remained in his small kingdom of a basin 12 meters long and 7 meters wide, despite the heavy bombardment of World War II that destroyed most of the animals.
The veterinarian confirms that "Moya is always in good health despite his advanced age," and the last health problem that plagued the crocodile dates back to 2012, when veterinarians had to amputate its right front leg due to gangrene.
The veterinarian explains, "The operation was very complicated, but it was successful and he recovered completely and adapted to the situation."
Moya has little movement due to his age, but it becomes more energetic when the time for food approaches, and he often needs help in the later period to find his "prey" that the garden workers put in front of his jaws. His meal consisted of rats, rabbits, birds, beef or horse meat, and vitamins.
The veterinarian indicates that the crocodile is a cold-blooded animal, which slows down its metabolism and prolongs its life. “We hope that we can celebrate its 100th birthday, as I am confident that it can live for an additional period of 15 to 20 years,” he says.