NEWS INTERNATIONAL (Karachi, Pakistan) 26 March 08 ‘Honey, have you seen my crocodile anywhere?’ (M. Waqar Bhatti)
Karachi: Syed Faraz Ali, a young professional wildlife photographer, is not only fond of shooting untamed animals and birds with his camera, but also loves to get hold of the creatures for his own zoo.
“I have kept snakes, wild cats and even crocodiles in makeshift cages at my residence despite the fact that keeping such animals is quite uncomfortable, and unusual, for most members of my family,” he tells The News while sitting in his drawing room with a baby crocodile, approximately 15-inches long, resting in his arms.
Faraz says he is aware of the dangers and repercussions of keeping these highly dangerous creatures in a place that is located in the heart of the city, and which also remains crowded with his own family members, including children. However, he claims that he cannot resist his passion for these creatures and has no other place to keep them.
“Currently, I have two baby crocodiles, whom I have kept in a fish pond that has been especially altered for them. Although one of them once escaped a few months back and remained missing for over two weeks, I still have no plans to turn them in to wildlife officials and send them back to their natural habitat,” he admits.
He recalled that, once, one of the baby crocodiles fled the fish-pond and remained unaccounted for for over two weeks. He says it attacked him and badly crushed his wrist while he was trying to re-capture him, but adds that the incident did not lessened his affection for the reptile.
“Everybody in my family was concerned about the missing crocodile as they are a highly violent specie and can attack persons trying to touch them; but I was confident that I will trace it.”
One day, Faraz recalls, his younger brother heard some unusual sounds from a room in the house and asked him to check the source. “The sounds were emerging from beneath a sofa and, as soon as I extended my arm to check the source, something tried to grind my wrist,” he informed.
According to him, as crocodiles are not poisonous and those he had kept his residence were not big enough to cause any considerable harm to him or any other of his family members, he risked keeping them at his house just to satisfy his passion for wild creatures.
“Many persons have pet animals at their residences, but having wild crocodiles gives a sense of uniqueness to you. On the other hand, I feel that I understand their behaviour and that encourages me to keep them at my residence,” he says.
When asked about the place from where he had obtained these crocodiles, he refused to disclose the source or the sanctuary, saying that he had plans to get more wild animals from the same source and any disclosure in this regard could hinder his future attempts.
Faraz said that his entire family and, even ancestors, had a deep interest in jungles and wild life. Both his father and grand-father, he says, were known hunters. “My grandfather had once killed a 22-foot long crocodile and its tales have reached to us from our father and uncle,” he added.
He informed that his father was a member of the Sindh Rifle Shooting Club while the elder brother of his father, Mazhar Jabalpuri, is an expert on freshwater fish species and an author of a book on fishing in Pakistan.
“After every week or two, my family members go for fishing and hunting at ponds, dams and canals in Sindh and Balochistan. It is a routine for us; half of our income is usually spent on this hobby,” he claimed.
Fazraz said that he had the support of his elder brother, Syed Tahir Ali, who is also a hunter and fond of fishing, saying that, without his support, he could not keep the crocodiles and other wild animals at his residence.
‘Honey, have you seen my crocodile anywhere?’