The Israeli civil administration announced on Monday that it had killed more than 200 Nile crocodiles representing “a danger”, in an Israeli colony in occupied West Bank, a gesture denounced by the owner and animal defense organizations.
These crocodiles “were detained in an abandoned enclosure under deplorable conditions which constituted animal mistreatment, with insufficient access to food, which had pushed them to adopt cannibal behavior,” assured the COGAT, the Israeli defense organization which manages civil affairs in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
After discussions with veterinary experts, it was decided that the “real risk for the life of the inhabitants of the area should be treated immediately,” added the civil administration, which did not specify how the animals were killed.
Open to tourists in the 1990s in the Jourdain Valley, the Crocodile Ferme, in Petzael, had been converted into commercial farming after a drop in attendance linked to the second intifada.
In 2013, a law prohibiting the breeding of wild animals for the resale of their skin led to the closure of the site, then abandoned.
Gadi Bitan, owner of the farm for over 30 years, said the Israeli media Ynet not having been notified of the slaughter, which occurred on Sunday.
“It was a pure and simple execution,” he said, explaining that his employee, on the spot, was confiscated his mobile phone during the operation.
“These animals were in good health, nourished, and no serious accident has ever been reported to the farm,” he said.
“This act constitutes a cruel and unjustifiable massacre of protected animals,” denounced the Israeli NGO Let the Animals Live, which recalls that Israel is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Species of Wild Faune and Flore Threatened with extinction (CITES).
The association asked for the immediate opening of an investigation.
Videos broadcast in the spring had shown Israeli adolescents throwing stones on farm crocodiles.
Since its official closure, some of the Saurians have been escaped several times, worrying the inhabitants and visitors to the surrounding nature reserves.