This is the moment a Chinese man plunges a cleaver into a crocodile he had bought online and planned to cook for his family, and the large reptile suddenly jerks to life and tries to hide in the corner of the kitchen.

The man, name not reported, shared the footage on social media and claimed that he had ordered the crocodile from Alibaba’s Hema food delivery app.

The video shows him plunging his cleaver into the croc’s thick skin before it springs to life and tries to hide in the corner of the room.

After the footage was widely circulated on social networks, local media contacted Hema about the incident and were told that its Siamese crocodiles, farmed in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, are all killed and gutted.

The Hema spokesperson said the company has never received any complaints of crocodiles coming back to life and that, in its opinion of the footage, the animal does not match the specifications of the crocodiles sold on the app and that the consumer did not purchase it from Hema.

The Hema spokesperson said Siamese crocodiles were made available for purchasing before the Spring Festival this year.

According to local media, crocodiles are available to buy on the Hema app for CNY 1,888 (GBP 225) and they come from Bayannur in Inner Mongolia.

A 10-kilogramme crocodile, which should be “eviscerated and gutted”, can be delivered by a third-party company within 24 hours.

Crocodile meat is said to be lean, high in protein and low in fat, and has the effects of nourishing consumers’ blood, heart and lungs, and ‘chi’.

At present, there are three crocodiles allowed for commercial domestication in the country, including the Siamese crocodile and the Nile crocodile. It is illegal to breed and eat Chinese alligators and other nationally protected animals.