GULF DAILY NEWS (Manama, Bahrain) 16 August 05 Baby crocodiles' sale probed (Dalal Al Alawi)

Manama: Authorities are to investigate the illegal sale of baby crocodiles, which are being smuggled into the country and sold as pets.

It follows a tip-off to the GDN, which was alerted to illegal animal trading by a concerned reader after posters started appearing in supermarkets.

The Bahraini seller told at least two customers that he brought them to Bahrain from Thailand.

However, when confronted by the GDN he claimed he bought them from someone at Isa Town market.

He also said the baby crocodiles cost BD40 each, but offered to part with his last three (two females and one male) for BD100.

"They're African crocodiles like the ones you see on Animal Planet."

The man also offered to sell a non-poisonous sea snake and claimed he was awaiting a delivery of iguanas.

He said the baby crocs, which measure less than 25cm in length, are under one-month-old and can grow up to six or seven metres long.

"It takes about 40 years for them to grow into adulthood, about 50 years to reproduce and their lifespan could be 120 years," he said.

"If you get tired of looking after them or they grow too big, just give me a call and I'll take care of it."

The man said he didn't know when more would be brought to Bahrain to sell.

However, he added that he operates on a first-come first-served basis and said it was not possible to reserve the creatures.

"I can't reserve any of them because I'm getting many calls from people who have seen the posters," he said. "I have a farm where I keep some animals, but the crocodiles are now at my home because they're very small and need taking care of."

He said they liked eating meat, but at the moment he's feeding them fish or turtle food "which they seem to like".

"They don't need to eat much and feeding them twice a week is fine," he said.

"They do need to stay in some water though for their skin, but it doesn't need to be a deep pool. You could buy a paddling pool and that would do just fine."

However, Bahraini officials told the GDN that it was illegal to sell crocodiles here.

"If they are being sold here they must have been smuggled into the country," said Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife director-general and vice-president Dr Ismail Al Madani. He added that only those people with the proper permit could keep them as pets.

"We will be investigating the matter and will confiscate crocodiles that are being sold to others without a permit," he said.

However, when the GDN telephoned the seller on the number in his posters he claimed he didn't know he was breaking the law.

"I wasn't aware that it was illegal to sell them," he said.

"I've seen them being sold even before the summer at Isa Town market.

"I bought five and now I only have three left to sell."
Baby crocodiles' sale probed

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• BHR Press: Baby crocodiles' sale probed - W von Papineäu, Tue Aug 16 06:22:53 2005