REDHILL AND REIGATE LIFE (UK) 13 December 06 Crocodile Stevenson! Former zoo owner wants a licence to keep the creatures (Victoria Allen)
A former zoo owner wants to keep seven crocodiles at his home in Merstham.
Colin Stevenson has applied to Reigate and Banstead Borough Council for a dangerous wild animal licence for them.
He plans to keep two dwarf crocodiles, two spectacled caimans, two Cuvier's dwarf caimans and a Chinese alligator.
It is the first application for such a licence in the borough since a man was given permission to have several wild boar ten years ago.
Mr Stevenson, 40, who owned a zoo in Hunter Valley in New South Wales, intends to take his crocodiles to schools and birthday parties and he says his plans have already met with some interest in Merstham. His eventual plan is to set up a crocodile park in the area.
In Australia he took crocodiles to schools to teach children about the creatures.
A fully-grown dwarf caiman measures four feet if it is female and five feet if male, as compared with larger types such as the Nile crocodile, which can reach up to 14 feet in length.
There is a self-imposed limit of 1.2 metres on crocodiles he takes to schools and in his many years of handling them, Mr Stevenson said he has has never had any safety scares.
He said: "Everybody knows that a crocodile's jaws are immensely strong when they are closing them and clamping down on something, but they are very weak when the crocodile is opening them.
"I have two fingers under the jaw and my thumb on the top of the head behind the eyes and apply a gentle pressure to hold them together.
"I never tape their jaws because it damages the skin on the head but because I only take small crocodiles to schools, I can easily control them. They travel in locked boxes and it is absolutely safe."
If Mr Stevenson is granted his licence, the crocodiles will be kept in large enclosures, with regular checks by the council, and he will have to reapply each year for a new licence.
Of their constant confinement, Mr Stevenson said: "They are happy staying in the same place. Reptiles have a different metabolism to mammals and their space requirements and activity levels are different. If a crocodile found a spot in the wild where there was a continual supply of food, they would hardly move."
He is in full support of the checks he has to go through to get the crocodiles.
"There is talk of removing dwarf crocodiles from the dangerous wild animals list but they should be kept on it. The trouble is that they are less than a foot long when they are little and people think they are cute. A 5ft-long grown caiman could remove a finger if it latched on to you. It is a serious animal and the checks that exist are needed."
Mr Stevenson says animals he shows at schools, from crocodiles to snakes, lizards, tortoises and turtles, are playing an important part in teaching people and helping them to overcome phobias of these supposedly scary creatures.
"I know people see this as unusual but it is educational - these animals are not jumping through hoops or anything. I am a crocodile person through and through and interested in the conservation issues surrounding them. Being able to work with crocodiles is an honour."
The council's regulatory committee meets tonight to decide if Mr Stevenson will be granted his licence.
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