Court freezes transfer of crocodiles to Ben Gvir prison moat after animal rights petition

The Jerusalem District Court places a temporary injunction preventing the transfer of crocodiles to the Ketziot Prison as part of a campaign spearheaded by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to introduce the large reptile into security wings.

A final decision on the matter will be made when the state responds to the petition by Let the Animals Live, an Israeli animal rights group that protested the move.

Digging a moat for the crocodiles began last month, after Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman issued a ministerial decision to reclassify the Nile crocodile as a “tended wild animal” to allow for their presence in security facilities, flouting the opposition of her ministry’s legal counsel.

Silman’s move also encountered stringent opposition from career environmental officials in the Nature and Parks Authority, which stressed that the move has “no professional or scientific basis” and poses physical danger to guards and prisoners alike.