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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 13 April 08
24 March 08 'Dare to Explore': 'Suffering a Thousand cuts'
As a sign of entry into manhood, boys of this tribe suffer thousands of razor-blade cuts to make their skin resemble a crocodile's. Such a ritual demonstrates the anthropomorphic impact of crocodilians on various cultures. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGERY. See it here.
18 April 08 Police nab burglar on the road- with gator in the car rear window
A Texas
state trooper said he discovered a six-foot/two-meter alligator in the
back of a car driven by a burglary suspect in the town of Brazoria. STORIES WITH PHOTOS: LINK 1 http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/article.html?in_article_id=143426&in_page_id=64 LINK 2 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/17/wcroc117.xml
09 April 08 Monster croc takes bait
A 4.5m, 500 kg saltwater croc lurking in a Cape York creek has been captured after playing cat and mouse with Parks and Wildlife officers for more than a fortnight. It had been spotted swimming near the township’s school where up to 50 students play every day.
The traps, just 10m from the fenced-off school grounds, previously snared two hefty crocs – one 3.6m and one 2m – but the big fella had eluded capture until yesterday.
It will be transported to Cairns by barge later this
week and sold to a farm or zoo.
http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2008/04/09/2978_local-news.html 09 April 08 Zimbabwe goes for crocodile meat
Harare residents are now resorting to crocodile meat, as other alternatives of meat have gone way beyond the reach of many owing to exorbitant prices.
Croc meat, which is generally cheap as compared to beef, chicken, pork, and other types of meat, is being sold in numerous butcheries in the capital. (“Croc meat goes for $ZWE 50 million per kg as compared to beef which costs $ZWE 200 million per kg or chicken at $ZWE 180 million per kg.”)
Culturally and religiously, crocodile meat is not
popular with many black Zimbabweans who associate the animal with
various superstitions and beliefs. 08 April 08 Man dies in croc attack
A 50-year-old Zimbabwe man was attacked and killed by a crocodile while watering his garden along the banks of Hunyani River.
Insp Munyikwa said Muropa's wife was not nearby when
the incident occurred but later realised that her husband had been taken
away by a crocodile. She then rushed to inform other villagers who
reported the matter at Mushumbi Police Station.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200804080128.html 07 April 08 GatorAIDS: Why isn’t it in you?
Alligators are fighters - and they’ve got the immune
systems to prove it. For 80 million years ago, they’ve been violently
battling each other, ripping off each others’ limbs in filthy,
microbe-infested swamps. But there’s no point in winning a fight if
you’re just going to die of a wound infection a week later, so
alligators have evolved a fierce immune system to protect themselves
against the nasty pathogens swimming in and out of their gaping wounds.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2008/04/07/gatoraids-why-isnt-it-in-you/ 06 April 08 S. Carolina gator hunt season Opens in September
For hunters looking for a challenge, a new state law has added alligators to the list of possible prey.
Gov. Mark Sanford signed a bill Feb. 19 creating an alligator hunting season that will start the first Saturday in September and end the first Saturday in October. State law requires hunters to restrain a gator with a rope, snare or wire noose before shooting it.
Under current law, alligators are removable through the nuisance alligator program. Landowners apply for permits and the state issues them tags for a certain number of alligators. The landowner can then remove the alligator alone or contract with companies like Critter Management. The program requires the alligators be killed.
In 1995, the state created another program for use on private lands, which allowed landowners with 100 acres or more of alligator habitat to hunt the reptiles. Once landowners enroll, DNR surveys the property and issues tags for alligators of a particular size, depending on the area.
Derrell Shipes, chief of statewide projects for DNR said the goal is not to eliminate alligators, but to manage them on properties where there might be too many or where they are causing damage.
There have been 10 alligator attacks in the past 25
years statewide.
http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/272684.html 06 April 08 It's spring: Reptiles are frisky - A Central Florida Zoo class teaches the do's and don'ts of living near gators.
With warmer weather, 2 1/2 million alligators are beginning to rouse from their winter slumber with two things on their peanut-sized brains -- finding another alligator to breed with and catching up on a few missed meals. Those two factors, coupled with the huge influx of humans into the state, make encounters more prevalent, said Nick Clark, the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Garden's senior reptile keeper.
To educate residents on how to handle encounters with the reptiles, as well as how to avoid them, the zoo offers alligator-awareness classes. Its first of the season was March 25, and another will be June 3.
Since 1948, more than 275 unprovoked attacks on humans have been documented in Florida, with at least 17 resulting in deaths, according to the Florida Wildlife Commission.
However, the commission removes more than 7,000 nuisance alligators per year. Gators smaller than 3 feet are moved, and those larger than that are destroyed.
According to the Everglades National Park Web site,
the largest alligator ever recorded in Florida was 17 feet, 5 inches
long. However, the wildlife commission Web site says the Florida state
record belongs to a 14-foot- 5/8 -inch male pulled from Lake Monroe in
1997.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/tavares/orl-sgator0608apr06,0,6478077.story
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