Outrage at plan to kill Czech farm crocs
Source: Agencies |
May 29, 2011, Sunday
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THE plan was to transform the crocodile farm in Velky Karlov in southeastern Czech Republic into a park that would offer the general public a wide variety of animals to see, two restaurants to dine at and a pond to go fishing in.
But the finances didn't work out, and now the owner has another plan: slaughter 100 of the farm's 215 Nile crocodiles and make money selling their exotic meat and valuable skin.
Killing protected animals such as crocodiles is currently illegal in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe, but the nation's Ministry of Agriculture is drafting a regulation that would make it possible.
That has enraged some people, including animal rights experts, and even some crocodile farm owners.
"We strictly reject the legislation," said Eva Hodek, director of the Prague-based Foundation for Protection of Animals. "There's no reason to allow us to be the only country in the EU to slaughter crocodiles."
Hodek said activists suspect the current owners of the farm, who have operated it since February, wanted to slaughter the crocodiles from the start.
"That must have been the real business plan," she said.
Magdalena Dvorackova, the spokeswoman for the Czech Republic's agriculture ministry, said the regulation change regarding crocodiles is needed and that a similar move in the past allowed farmers to slaughter another exotic animal, the ostrich.
Nile crocodiles are not listed as an endangered species in the republic, but animal rights groups say it should not be put in the same category as domestic animals such as pigs, sheep or cows, which farmers raise and legally slaughter.
"It's time for the change," Dvorackova said. "The crocodiles have grown enough to be slaughtered."
But the finances didn't work out, and now the owner has another plan: slaughter 100 of the farm's 215 Nile crocodiles and make money selling their exotic meat and valuable skin.
Killing protected animals such as crocodiles is currently illegal in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe, but the nation's Ministry of Agriculture is drafting a regulation that would make it possible.
That has enraged some people, including animal rights experts, and even some crocodile farm owners.
"We strictly reject the legislation," said Eva Hodek, director of the Prague-based Foundation for Protection of Animals. "There's no reason to allow us to be the only country in the EU to slaughter crocodiles."
Hodek said activists suspect the current owners of the farm, who have operated it since February, wanted to slaughter the crocodiles from the start.
"That must have been the real business plan," she said.
Magdalena Dvorackova, the spokeswoman for the Czech Republic's agriculture ministry, said the regulation change regarding crocodiles is needed and that a similar move in the past allowed farmers to slaughter another exotic animal, the ostrich.
Nile crocodiles are not listed as an endangered species in the republic, but animal rights groups say it should not be put in the same category as domestic animals such as pigs, sheep or cows, which farmers raise and legally slaughter.
"It's time for the change," Dvorackova said. "The crocodiles have grown enough to be slaughtered."
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