A crocodile breeding centre in India is in the process of shifting 1,000 crocodiles to a zoo located some 1,931km (1,200 miles) away – and owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani.
Last year India’s zoo regulator approved the transfer of mugger crocodiles from Madras Crocodile Bank Trust in the southern state of Tamil Nadu to Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in the western state of Gujarat. About 300 crocodiles have been relocated to Gujarat so far.
Officials of the 8.5-acre breeding centre said the crocodiles were being relocated as overcrowding in their original home was leading to fights.
“Because of overpopulation at the bank, hundreds of crocodile eggs are destroyed every year,” says Nikhil Whitaker, curator of the centre in Chennai city. “The decision to shift the crocodiles was taken to give them a better space to live in,” he adds.
The Indians sharing their villages with crocodiles
Over the years, the bank has been sending its crocodiles to protected areas and zoos across India. However, this is the first time that such a large number of crocodiles are being shifted.
The 425-acre, three-year-old zoo in Gujarat’s Jamnagar city has said in its latest annual report that the crocodiles “will be given adequate space, food and care”.
The breeding centre in Chennai was started in 1976 for conserving mainly three native species of crocodiles – muggers, saltwater crocodiles and gharials.
It initially had around 40 crocodiles, and the goal was to protect them so that they could multiply and their populations could be released into the wild to restock their natural habitats.
A federal government order in 1994 put a stop to captive-bred crocodiles being released into the wild, Mr Whitaker said. Since then, the bank had to make do with relocating a few crocodiles every now and then to zoos and wildlife sanctuaries.
With wildlife areas shrinking and zoos being able to take in only a limited number of crocodiles, they have been running out of places to send their surplus crocodiles, officials said.
Officials at the breeding centre said the crocodiles will travel to Jamnagar in wooden boxes in a temperature-controlled vehicle.
Strolling crocodile sparks panic in India village
“Since captive crocodiles need to be fed only once a week, they will be fed before the journey,” said Mr Whitaker.
Conservationists have raised doubts about the relocation as a solution to overcrowding at the breeding centre. Wildlife biologist P Kannan said since the reptiles will be kept in a closed space in their new home too, the problem will persist.
“There’s no sterilisation method [for crocodiles] available yet and male and female crocodiles cannot be kept in separate enclosures for a long time as this leads to fights,” said Mr Kannan.
The BBC reached out to the zoo in Gujarat for more details on steps being taken to keep their crocodile population in check, but has received no response yet.
S Jayachandran, honorary secretary of the Nilgiri Wildlife and Environment Association, said that instead relocating animals, India should increase its protected areas for wildlife.
“If there was enough space for crocodiles in the wild, they would not have to be relocated to a zoo.”
Why toxic fat shaming is so rampant in India
Tech layoffs threaten American dream of India workers
Football World Cup fever grips cricket-crazy India
When Hitler purged India Nobel laureate Tagore’s art
Trans icon who fought pain to bring joy to Kashmir
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife's announcement comes after the mountain lion killed a dog last month and attacked another last week.
Scientists Down Under went to new depths to see a world never-before explored with human eyes.
The inland taipan is the most venomous snake in the world. Its venom contains an enzyme that makes it spread faster throughout the body when bitten.
Her husband “saw a shark swim by repeatedly.”
The Prince of Wales has paid tribute to a “close friend” who was killed, alongside his son, in a plane crash in Kenya.
Freezers that were searched were also found to be filled with various animal meats, including both deer and bear — the bulk of which was believed to be obtained illegally.
Northern California has some of the strongest offshore winds in the U.S., with immense potential to produce clean energy. But it also has a problem. Its continental shelf drops off quickly, making building traditional wind turbines directly on the seafloor costly if not impossible. Once water gets more than about 200 feet deep – roughly the height of an 18-story building – these “monopile” structures are pretty much out of the question. A solution has emerged that’s being tested in several locat
A mountain lion has been euthanized after it barged into a home in Sonoma County, California, and dragged out a woman's pet border collie by its neck last month.
When the snow starts to fall this winter, this dog dad has the perfect potty hack.
A massive snake — believed to be a Burmese python — has been spotted slithering through Doral this week.
The 100-megawatt utility-scale solar project just announced by Erthos is not even close to the largest solar project currently being developed in the U.S., but it will be the only large solar farm with panels installed directly on the ground, without elevated steel racking or trackers. Erthos signed an agreement…
Commentary by columnist Dan Walters.
Firefighters, animal control officers, horse trainers, and neighbors all helped a Montana horse owner save their four young horses from a scary cold water accident
Fish kills and breathing irritation continue for a large swath of the Southwest Florida coast.
A man-made environmental crisis is part of the anger building against Iran's government.
A ruptured pipe dumped enough oil this week into a northeastern Kansas creek to nearly fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, becoming the largest onshore crude pipeline spill in nine years and surpassing all the previous ones on the same pipeline system combined, according to federal data. The Keystone pipeline spill in a creek running through rural pastureland in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Kansas City, also was the biggest in the system's history, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. The operator, Canada-based TC Energy, said the pipeline that runs from Canada to Oklahoma lost about 14,000 barrels, or 588,000 gallons.
Here, we take a look at five reasons why you may want to make the switch from Sam's Club to Costco. Now, to be fair, there are no Costco stores in Maine, West Virginia, Wyoming, or Rhode Island. If you're in school or move frequently for your job, you'll have a better chance of finding a nearby Costco following a relocation to a new city.
Los Angeles’ resident big cat will have his health assessed after recent attacks on two chihuahuas and roaming too close to homes
Photographer Jennifer Hadley took the top prize in the 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards with her photo titled "Not So Cat-Like Reflexes."
La Niña is expected to continue into the winter and enter a neutral state during the spring
