Police said three men were arrested on Monday for stealing a 2.5-metre (8-foot) Nile crocodile worth about $1,300 from a farm in South Africa’s northwest.
The men, between the ages of 20 and 35, are believed to have used a pickup truck to pick up alligators from an alligator farm in Hartbeesfontein, about 200 kilometers west of Johannesburg. The alligator was found tied up with rope and wire in an abandoned farmhouse. According to police, the men covered him with branches to hide him. Police also found a pickup truck. They were arrested last week and are due to appear in court on Monday. Police spokeswoman Colonel Adele Maybourg said she was investigating how she rescued a large alligator from a secure fenced farm.
How did they get this animal out? She said. “It is by no means a crocodile.” Myburgh said the alligator was severely dehydrated when it was found by a team of police and animal welfare officials. According to police, the alligator was “returned to its rightful owner”.
They posted pictures of him swimming in the farm pool. South Africa has a poaching problem, but crocodiles are dangerous and are not usually prosecuted. Myburgh said the motive for the theft was still under investigation, but said alligator body parts such as hide, fingernails and teeth were valuable and the men may have been planning to kill the animal and sell the parts.
