Hundreds of crocodiles abandoned in illegal Israel settlement

Fear of crocodiles roaming free in the Jordan Valley has become a source of concern after a crocodile farm venture in an illegal Israeli settlement flopped.

Council members in the Jordan Valley region are hoping to avoid an “international incident” after hundreds of crocodiles were left stranded in an illegal West Bank settlement.

The reptiles have been stranded at the farm in a remote spot in the Jordan Valley and occasional escapes have fuelled safety fears for residents and visitors alike, Jewish News reported.

The reptiles were initially purchased in the mid-1990s as a tourist attraction but it’s believed that ongoing conflict kept visitors away. An Israeli entrepreneur saw an opportunity and purchased the crocodiles in order to sell their skin.  But his venture is reported to have flopped after Israel passed a law in 2012 defining crocodiles as protected animals, and banning raising the animals for sale as meat or merchandise.

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Multiple attempts to sell them abroad have failed and the reptiles, which can live well into their 70s, are also reproducing with their numbers expected to grow to the thousands in the coming years.

“We found ourselves with hundreds of crocodiles in this farm that no one knows what to do with,” said David Elhayani, head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council.

“I don’t want to think of what will happen if a crocodile manages to escape and reaches the Jordan River, and then we’ll have an international incident,” Elhayani said.