Crocs whiling away decades in defunct West Bank attraction euthanized

Aging crocodiles brought to an settlement in the West Bank decades ago have been euthanized after years of their repeated escapes from a long-neglected farm, authorities say.

Government veterinarians had culled the aging crocodiles because they threatened the area’s residents and were themselves suffering from inhumane treatment, according to COGAT. The exact number of crocodiles euthanized and the method of culling are not immediately clear.

“The Nile crocodiles at the farm were being kept in an abandoned compound under poor conditions that constitute animal abuse, with insufficient access to food, which had driven them to cannibalistic behavior,” COGAT says. It says veterinarians were consulted on how to humanely exterminate the animals.

The crocodiles were initially brought to the town of Petzael in the Jordan Valley as a tourist attraction and they were later purchased by an entrepreneur who hoped to sell their skin. Their fate has been an open question since Israel in 2012 passed a law classifying the reptiles as protected animals and banned raising them for sale as meat or merchandise.

COGAT says authorities had spent hundreds of thousands of shekels (more than $29,000) to re-fence the dilapidated farm, which has been in a state of disrepair since it was shut down in 2013.