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CROCODOPOLIS world of crocodilians TM SCIENCE · CULTURE · INDUSTRY · NEWS · COMMUNICATION · CONSERVATION
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NEWS
The CROC PRESS Regular coverage of crocodilians and people in headlines worldwide.
Wes von Papineäu, News Page Editor Email: crocnews@crocodopolis.net _________________________________________________
Week of 2 March 08
07 March 08 'Supersize Crocs: Measuring Up to Crocs'
Check out the latest installment of CrocTV as intrepid crocodile specialist Rom Whitaker tracks down giant Indian Gharials (Gavialis gangeticus). As he records them, he employs his unique method of measuring the animals in "Roms." See it here.
06 March 08 Holiday Rec Center Gator Proving Elusive
An alligator in the vicinity of Florida Recreation Complex has eluded a trapper so far while an area woman urges the county to do more to warn people about the 8 foot /2.4 metre -long reptile. That's pretty well all of it! http://suncoastpasco.tbo.com/content/2008/mar/06/holiday-rec-center-gator- 05 March 08 Crocodile mauls Kazungula pupil
A 12-year-old boy was killed by a crocodile while swimming in Botswana's Chobe River.
Police said the boy was in the company of six others when he was attacked by the crocodile. http://www.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=20080305&i=Crocodile_mauls_Kazungula_pupil 03 March 08 Crocodile brings a headache
The sighting of a six-foot/2-metre-long crocodile in the heart of India's Gulbarga city has triggered panic among officials who have launched efforts to have it caught alive.
Deputy Commissioner Pankajkumar Pandey confirmed that efforts were on to catch the crocodile and shift it to a zoo or a natural habitat.
Mr. Pandey said he was in touch with the authorities in the Crocodile Park in Chennai for catching the reptile. So far the animal had not harmed anybody and there was no chance of it coming out of the water storage tank and entering human inhabitations as the tank had been fenced.
There is no shortage of food for the crocodile as the tank has a rich fish stock and water fowls and cranes flock to the tank. http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/03/stories/2008030368600400.htm
05 March 08 Seminole Reservation worker bitten by gator
A 38-year old employee of the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation was bitten by a seven-foot/ 2.1 metre alligator as he tried to trap the reptile, and then drove himself to hospital. A Seminole Tribe of Florida spokesman, said the longtime employee worked as an animal control officer for the Seminole Tribe's health department. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/444389.html 04 March 08 Crocs on the loose in southern Vietnam
Nine crocodiles have been captured and two others were shot dead after escaping from a farm in the southern province of Ben Tre, but three others are still at large after escaping into the local Ba Lai river. http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=36365 04 March 08 Elusive reptile probably did not survive winter
If a large reptile did make a home in Loveland, Colorado's Jayhawker Ponds Natural Area last summer, it's likely that it did not survive the winter.
In July 2007, the Colorado Division of Wildlife placed a trap to catch what some officials believed was a large reptile, possibly a caiman, after a Loveland boy fishing there said he saw something that lunged at him.
Typically, a large reptile in a Colorado lake would mean someone released the animal, likely after it outgrew a domestic aquarium, said Gordon Rodda, a zoologist with the United States Geological Survey in Fort Collins. "My guess is that the most likely species that someone would have to dump would be a caiman and I don't think a caiman would survive," he said.
"The reason I'm thinking caimans is that alligators went off the market when they were listed as endangered," Rodda said. http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880303037
05 March 08 Crocodile attack a snap he
won't forget A huge crocodile came
within 1m of making a meal of a fisherman on a Northern Territory river.
The croc came alongside the small boat -- probably looking for a free
feed of fish -- and suddenly exploded out of the water.
(See impressive photo at the URL below) "One
minute I was leaning over the boat teasing it for a picture. The next
minute it burst out of the water with incredible speed . . . its jaws
fully open. The two Israelis are working as fishermen on the South
Alligator River.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23320752-662,00.html
3 March 08 Father of ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Quits family zoo to start his own They are Australia's most famous
family, carrying on the work of the maverick wildlife broadcaster Steve
Irwin since his death nearly 18 months ago. But rumours have been circulating for some time that all was not well within the ranks of the khaki-clad Irwin clan and yesterday those troubles finally came out into the open.
In a move that has stunned many in
the country, Irwin's father, Bob, has resigned from Australia Zoo, the
tourist attraction on Queensland's Sunshine Coast that he started from
humble beginnings and passed on to his son.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/03/australia
03 March 08 Doubt cast over Queensland Croc laws enforcement
The new Queensland estuarine crocodile conservation plan came into force over the weekend and makes it illegal to drive a boat within 10 metres (32.8 feet) of a crocodile without a reasonable excuse and an offence to stand in water more than knee-deep in known-crocodile areas.
Crocodile farm manager Peter Fisher says the Government is trying to legislate for the fool factor, but the new laws will be difficult to enforce. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/03/2177638.htm?site=idx-qld 01 March 08 Crocodile feeding frenzy filmed
A BBC crew managed to film over 40 Indopacific Crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) gathering and working together to feast on fish migrating up the Mary River in Australia. This cooperative feeding behaviour has only recently been discovered - the saltwater crocodiles are usually highly territorial creatures. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7268805.stm 01 March 08 Croc red tape under attack
The removal of crocodiles has been caught up in a process of "bureaucratic red tape", Hinchinbrook MP Andrew Cripps has said.
All crocodiles more than 2m/6 ft long, not just troublesome ones, will be automatically removed from urban areas under a new management regime.
Mr. Cripps said crocodiles that were less than 2m in length, but were near boat ramps and stinger nets still posed dangerous threats to children and especially tourist. http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2008/03/01/1900_local-news.html
01
March 08 Trapper gets her gator Responding to a complaint from a resident, alligator
trapper Julie Harter removed a 6-foot/1.8 meter alligator from a
man-made pond at the Tuscany Bay apartment complex Saturday evening in
Citrus Park, Florida. She responded to a call made to the Florida Fish &
Wildlife Conservation Commission, the agency responsible for removal of
unwanted alligators.
http://carrollwood2.tbo.com/content/2008/mar/01/cw-trapper-gets-her-gator/ 28 February 08 Owner of gator and pet store Faces abuse charges A University District pet-store owner has violated
his probation stemming from a conviction for attempted animal cruelty,
but a judge is holding off punishing him until an animal expert can
examine the store. Keith Altschul, owner of Menagerie Pet Shop at 21 E.
13th Ave., could face 30 days in jail. The judge said his concern is not so much the money
or the certificate, but that animals at the store are being abused. An attraction at the store is its alligator.
Customers can pay $2 to watch it eat a live mouse. The store carries
other reptiles and fish, along with mice and rats that are sold and used
as pet food. Altschul's probation officer and a Humane Society
officer testified that the owner has continued to keep the alligator in
an enclosure that is too small and that the store has animal feces on
the basement floor, sells products past their expiration dates, and
reeks of animal waste, among other probation violations. http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/03/01/menagerie.
ART_ART_03-01-08_B1_D49GN48.html?sid=101
28 February 08 Crocodile netted in Hooghly, India
A Balagarh, India fisherman nets a 4.5-foot/1.4 metre-long crocodile while prawn fishing.
"A proper identification will be done on Thursday. It may be a gharial or some other species," said Chitra Pramanik, a forest range officer.
Of the three species - mugger or fresh water crocodile, estuarine crocodile and gharial - the first two have all but vanished while the third is found in the area. Foresters said gharials had been rescued from the Hooghly earlier as well. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Crocodile_netted_in_Hooghly/articleshow/2821269.cms 26 February 08 Abandoned alligator Rescued from Indiana cold
A 3-foot/.9 metre alligator is recovering at a northwest Indiana animal clinic after it was found abandoned in the cold.
A passer-by found the animal inside a plastic storage tub along a road and called police who recovered it.
The alligator will eventually be taken to Florida or Texas. http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080226/LOCAL/802260421/1196/LOCAL
25 February 08 Police find alligators in Ohio
home Two alligators
were found inside an alleged drug house in Dayton, Ohio, authorities
said Monday. U.S. marshals discovered the gators while serving a
search warrant for a man allegedly linked to cocaine trafficking,
WHIO-TV in Dayton reported. It is illegal to keep alligators as pets in
the city.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/2008/02/25/two_alligators_found_in_dayton_home/5151/ 24 February 08 Sanibel’s elusive croc a welcome
sight This piece from the Columbus
dispatch is a commentary by columnist Jihn Switzer, who was delighted to
see the once-endangered American Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) basking
nearby while on vacation in Sanibel, Florida. http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/02/24/john24.ART_
ART_02-24-08_B2_I19ENL8.html?sid=101 24 February 08 Wardens seize alligator From northern Maine home The northern Maine town of
Monticello may be among the last places anyone would expect to find an
alligator. The Main Warden Service said it
confiscated a 3-foot long alligator this week after its owner,
20-year-old Justin Barry, said he did not have a permit for it. http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2008/02/22/wardens_seize_a
lligator_from_northern_maine_home/ 21 February 08 Vet uses drill to mend crocodile's jaw
A veterinary surgeon used a domestic drill to carry out emergency surgery on a crocodile that had its lower jaw damaged in a fight. The 12ft (3.7m) reptile, which lives at a crocodile sanctuary in Pierrelatte, southern France, was injured during a mating battle between 400 of the creatures.
During the operation Vet Pierrelatte Langevin put a towel over the animal's eyes to protect them while she used the drill and kept its mouth open with a plank of wood. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3406129.ece http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/article.html?in_article_id=100899&in_page_id=64 26 February 08 Bag some alligator knowledge at Aquarium exhibit
Alligators are at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, where guests can reach out and touch them.
Education specialist Karen Burns and other aquarium animal care specialists have been trained to guide young American alligators from an exhibit onto a deck with a net, tape their mouths shut and hold them for guests to touch.
"Alligators: Dragons in Paradise" is on display through May 4.
In addition to the 11 juvenile American alligators, the exhibit also features an albino alligator and a Yacare Caiman from South America. Guests can read a collection of facts and fantasies about the alligator and its role in Florida history.
"A crocodilian isn't as cute and fuzzy as a tiger or panda ... This is our chance to teach people about them." http://hamptonroads.com/2008/02/bag-some-alligator-knowledge-aquarium-exhibit
20 February 08 Cruising croc a yawn After mauling from savage flood Kim Foster, of Canberra Street, was in such shock
after two metres (6.6 ft) of water washed through her home last Friday
morning that the crocodile swimming outside on the road did not faze
her. She and her daughter had escaped from
their house a couple of hours earlier and were pushing through the
chest-deep water on Canberra Street trying to return and salvage
something. "I saw bubbles coming up to the right of us, as we walked to
the left we could see its tail, it was probably just under a metre," she
said.
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