Crocodile dumped in a box in Wolverhampton - petside.co.uk

16 December 2011


When we reported previously about a hamster being dumped on one of the coldest nights of the year, little did we think someone wouldraise the ante.

But that's just what happened. Jim Wick, the owner of an exotic animal park and pet shop in Wolverhampton named Wickid Pets discovered the crocodile in a big plastic container on his doorstep. "I saw a big, plastic container. I thought it might have been kittens or turtles because we often have animals left outside. I was taken aback when I lifted the lid and looked inside."

He rushed the animal up in his arms and carried her to a reptile vivarium, the staff are now looking after Snappy the Christmas Crocodile who they say is doing well and is none the worse for her experiences.

Mr Wick contacted local police to see if there had been any reports of missing crocodiles or if it had been accidentally taken during a robbery and abandoned by fear struck criminals. He will now help look after her until experts can collect her. 

There's been no indication where she came from or by what path she ended up in a plastic container on their doorstep, but Mr Wick says it sadly isn't an unfamiliar story "Some people aren't given the facts when they buy animals like this and they find them too much to cope with. They need specialist care."

Students are snap happy with a crocodile - biggleswadetoday.co.uk

15 December 2011

Darrell Roberts with Snap Happy

A baby crocodile is the first to hatch at a college in the UK.

The 14cm long caiman crocodilian has hatched at Shuttleworth College. The students have been studying the incubation and egg development of 14 eggs laid by mother Caiman. They were thrilled when the first baby crocodile hatched and more are incubating.

Carl Groombridge, Animal Centre manager, said: “This has been an incredible learning experience for our students and when the baby croc arrived there were definitely a few crocodile tears of joy!

“It is a privilege to care for such an incredible creature as the baby caiman and we hope that soon he will have brothers and sisters joining him.”

Snap Happy may be small now but one day he will be 2m to 2.5m in length. He is being hand-reared and cared for by students and staff in a specially built croc creche. He is eating small grubs at the moment.

Carl added: “We feel that we’ve been given an early and very special Christmas present.”

Crocodile farmer tears into metal thieves - huntspost.co.uk

15 December 2011

It would have taken six or eight men to lift the 16ft long by four ft wide bronze crocodile that farmer Andy Johnson bought in July in the early hours of Wednesday morning last week, Mr Johnson, whose Church Farm at Old Hurst has been in the family for generations, told The Hunts Post.

“It was one of only five made by Paris Bronze before they broke the mould. I paid £4,000 for it, but it would cost £6,000 to replace. All the kids sat on it to have their photographs taken. It was very popular.

“They also took another bronze of two pixies jumping over a toadstool, worth £300,” he added.

But whoever took the bronzes – and Mr Johnson has a fair idea who was responsible – had better not go near Church Farm again – except to return the items.

“I would like to catch them and throw them in with the real ones,” he said.

Mr Johnson believed the bronzes had been in a secure area between the tea room and the crocodile house. They were about to be moved to an even more secure area under the gaze of the farm’s security cameras.

But the thieves struck at around 12.30 on Wednesday, December 7, while he was out shooting a fox.

PC Simon Page, from Cambridgeshire police’s rural community action team, said: “The bronze crocodile statue is extremely rare and worth several thousand pounds. It would have taken several people due to its weight and size.

“I urge anyone who saw anything suspicious or is offered the statues for sale to contact police.”

CONTACT: Anyone with information should call PC Page on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.

London 2012 Olympics: British Waterways play down reports of Olympic Park 'crocodile' - telegraph.co.uk

13 December 2011

Officials believe that a report of a 16lb Canada goose being attacked in the river by an alligator or a giant snake may instead be the work of a large pike, rather than a predator.

A local man, Mike Wells, claimed to have seen the attack from his boat and believed it was the same beast that savaged a goose six years ago, which at the time was feared to be an alligator or giant turtle because of large burrows in the river bank.

"The bird just went vertically down. I was gobsmacked. There was no sign of what took it, but it was obviously pretty big," Wells said of the latest incident.

Officials said they would be interested in talking to any witnesses, especially people who may have video or photographic shots of any of the wildlife being attacked.

But British Waterways said they had no information confirming the existence of a predator on the Olympic site since 2005.

"Our workers would have reported large tunnels in the banks and we have never been made aware of any such large holes," a spokeswoman said.

"We don't believe there is a crocodile in the Lea. The potential culprits could be a large pike or a mink which have been known to go for goslings.

"Or sometimes terrapins get abandoned and they can grow to be a dinner plate size, but really none of them are particularly likely to attack a goose."

A spokesperson for the London organising committee for the Olympic Games said they had no record of any sightings of beasts in the Olympic Park.

Border jumper escape from jaws of croc - zoutnet.co.za

12 December 2011

A 17-year-old Mozambican border jumper escaped death by a whisker after fighting off a crocodile, which had grabbed his left leg while he was trying to cross the Limpopo River into South Africa illegally.


The victim, who is now nursing injuries in the Beit Bridge District Hospital, told Mirror that the incident occurred on Friday at around 16:00.

He was in the company of three other young men, and they were trying to cross into South Africa through the Limpopo River illegally. “I was travelling with three Zimbabweans, and when we arrived at the illegal crossing point, we got into the Limpopo River and started swimming. In the deep water, I was attacked by a huge crocodile. 


It grabbed my left leg and started pulling me towards the deeper end of the river. I wrestled with it and when I realised that it was overpowering me, I pulled out my knife and stabbed it in the nose. It then released me,” he said.


The other border jumpers who had accompanied him did not make efforts to rescue him and instead swam back and left the scene. They later came back in the company of officials from the local parks and wildlife department.


The youth sustained a fractured leg in the attack. He had fresh wounds on his leg and part of his left thigh was gone.


When Mirror visited the victim in hospital, he was groaning with pain in his hospital bed.


This is not the first time such an incident has occurred in the Limpopo River. Many border jumpers continue to risk their lives by crossing the river and several of them have either been killed or left with scars by the deadly reptiles in the past.


Recently, an 11-year-old Beit Bridge boy was killed by a crocodile while he was swimming in Limpopo River as his friends watched helplessly.


The local police spokesperson, Insp Tafanana Dzirutwe, warned border jumpers against this practice. 


“We continue to handle several cases of people, mostly border jumpers, being attacked by crocodiles while trying to cross into South Africa. Therefore, we would like to urge people to desist from doing so as they put their lives at risk. 


Border jumping is an offence and we warn those involved in this practice that they also risk being prosecuted,” said Dzirutwe.

Fishermen survive crocodile attack - theaustralian.com.au

12 December 2011

TWO fishermen in Darwin have narrowly escaped being killed by a crocodile after a rising tide left them stranded in mangroves.

The men, aged 30 and 22, were fishing at Buffalo Creek on Darwin's fringe last night but when they decided to head home they realised that the tide had risen and they were stranded on a mudbank.

They decided to trudge through the knee-deep water to get back to their vehicle when they became aware that a 3m crocodile was stalking them, police said.

"It lunged at them, so they climbed up a mangrove tree," said a police spokeswoman.

The younger man fell into the water but managed to quickly scamper back up the tree again.

Using his mobile phone one of the fishermen alerted authorities, who rushed to the scene.

The men were rescued by boat and the crocodile was shot at to scare it away, although it is uncertain whether it was killed.

Wildlife ranger Tom Nichols said at least one of the men seemed to be from overseas, and the pair were unfamiliar with local conditions.

"They weren't aware of the big tides, which were 7m tides last night, and also the conditions in that area, how fast the water comes in and out," Mr Nichols said.

There had been a report of a large crocodile in the area on Friday, he said.

CROCKED... NOT TO MENTION STUNG, BITTEN AND SHOCKED - dailystar.co.uk

11 December 2011

TWO people needed hospital treatment for crocodile bites last year – and two for the effects of zero gravity.

The oddball complaints are the weirdest in a list of strange reasons people went to UK accident and emergency units last year.

As well as the croc and alligator bite victims, 17 people were hurt by a nip from a venomous spider and 34 by a jellyfish or other sea creature.

Another four were attacked by scorpions, 58 were seen after contact with a poisonous snake or lizard and 1,014 stung by hornets.

The hospital admission statistics from 2010/11 also revealed two patients who needed treatment “for an illness resulting from staying too long in a weightless environment” – believed to be people who have taken zero-gravity space-simulation flights.

Another 22 people were hit by lightning, the same number who needed treatment after their nightwear caught fire.

Two people were hurt in earthquakes, seven in volcanic eruptions before being brought back to the UK for treatment and ten were injured in avalanches.

Rat bites put 24 people in A&E and 325 were pricked by plants. Thirteen people needed treatment after accidentally suffocating themselves in bed.

More than 4,000 people were treated for injuries sustained while using sports equipment, while 6,600 hurt themselves in falls from ladders.

A thirsty 1,968 came to grief with a hot drink, while 4,200 needed help after skiing, roller-skating, skateboarding or ice-skating accidents.

And 350 cyclists were treated in hospital after crashing into other bike riders.

In total, casualty staff treated more than one million people last year, among them 94,019 injured after “slipping, tripping or stumbling”.

There were almost 1,000 shooting victims but just 176 were classified as being “attacks” with the other injuries being accidental or self-inflicted.

Almost 5,000 people with stabbing injuries were treated by medics as well as 3,288 who were attacked with a blunt instrument.

But be careful while you read this because more than 13,000 people – one person every 40 minutes – ended up needing hospital treatment for falling off a chair and twice that number were hurt falling out of bed.