AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye Massive Problem Croc Caught On San Pedro

A 700 pound 11 foot American Crocodile was brought in from San Pedro Town today. It's what is known as a "problem croc" because it has lost the fear of humans and is feeding on their pets and their food. More than that, the massive reptile has been seen slithering through backyards at the back of the San Juan area of San Pedro. With all that, the folks from ACES, the American Crocodile Education Sanctuary have been trying to trap the problem croc and they finally snared it today. With the assistance of Quality Poultry Products which provided a boat, they brought the croc to the city for further transfer to their facility in Ladyville. We were at Quality Poultry when the very big boy was brought in:..

Vince Rose, ACES
"This croc has been patrolling the backwaters of San Pedro, all the back houses eating their dogs basically for the last couple of years. We had caught him a long time ago and hasn't seem him since. We finally caught him in San Juan area of San Pedro and the Quality Poultry Chicken had donated their services to bring the croc from San Pedro to here."

"We we are doing that is because he is a problematic croc; he has lost his fear to humans. He will attack and bite someone one day because he has lost his fear to humans. He is now our going to our facility in Ladyville in the Brigitte Bardot pen which was founded by Brigitte Bardot and Brigitte is going to have a nice handsome boyfriend to deal with."

Jules Vasquez
"Looking at him, he looks quite robust. What is his physiology like?"

Vince Rose, ACES
"Although he is only about 11 feet, he is extremely large which means he is probably about 40-45 years old. He' got some years on him and the size of his girth is just enormous. He has been eating well, I don't know how healthy. He should be eating shrimp, fish and crab - then you see more of a solid muscle of a crocodile. He looks a little jelly-belly fat which means he has probably been eating a lot of junk food; whether it be dogs, garbage that people throw away in the water ways,"

Jules Vasquez
"What's your process now? Quality Poultry brought him in from the cayes, but now you have to get him into Ladyville. You can't just put an 11 foot croc in the back of a bus?"

Vince Rose, ACES
"Well you can - just no one wants to do it really."

"Actually Quality Poultry has offered to put it i one of their big trucks if I can't get him in my truck. I can't put him in the back of my pickup truck because a crocodile will die in 30 minutes in direct sunlight if his mouth is tape shut. The whole thing about people seeing a crocodile with his mouth open - what he is doing is panting like a dog - cooling himself down. We are going to try shove him inside the cab."

"The more I lock him inside the cab tight - the less he will move around. He's going to know he is being held down and he won't fight as much. I dint know if he will fit yet. This will be the biggest croc I put inside the cab with me."

Jules Vasquez
"What are the risks all the while as you all are transporting him and as you all have him here presently?"

Vince Rose, ACES
"If he decides to go berserk, it's a 700 pound animal throwing his body every which way he can which Chris is going to be on top of him and I will be driving - I'll probably have to slam on the brakes and jump out of the truck and then tackle him."

"The key is if I can wedge him between my seats he won't try and fight. He is only going to fight when he feels us release him. He is going to save all his strength for when we release him."

Jules Vasquez
"You don't think this crocodile should be killed even though he has no fear of humans, he is a pest eating people's dogs - you are not a favor of euthanize him even an animal like this."

Vince Rose, ACES
"For the last 10 years we've been counting crocs and the numbers are going down extremely high and that's bad. Belize was supposed to be scientifically from all the crocodile specialist groups Belize was supposed to have the highest numbers of the American Crocodiles left in the world. Our numbers are showing they don't. They don't even have half as many."

"No we are talking about an endangered species which Belize could lose. If Belize doesn't start protecting them, you won't have any in 10 years because most people fear crocodiles and most people want to kill them. I understand the fear and I understand that it's a scary giant animal, but it is important to have in the environment."

Despite the cramped conditions, Rose and his Australian Assistant got the Croc to Ladyville without incident.

Channel 7

one big puppy...

Scary - one of the few animals I don't feel warm and fuzzy about!

....and that's just for breakfast

Good job! These ancient beasts deserve to be preserved!

Hopefully the team will now have time to catch this cros's little brother (6-7 ft) which has moved into the pond at the back of our lot on the North side!

Nice one Phil

As far as warm and fuzzy and the aspect of having a croc near ones home; they may not be cuddly but not every creature is cute or generate huggy feelings. Frankly theyre scary and we need to sit back and assess that, we move to an environment that has large predators and the first thing people seem to want to do is remove them. Why? They were here before, always have been, but we seem to be "managing them" right out of their own home here on AC simply to make the Caye fuzzy for us...When I say managing them out of their home I'm not saying its anything that ACES is doing; we're encroaching on their habitat. As a result ACES seems to be largely involved with animals that present a problem to people as a result of their proximity to people and have as a result altered their natural behaviors around people; largely as a result of the food sources associated with people.

I do disagree that stockpiling these acclimated animals ad inifinitum in a sanctuary is a practical long term solution; in fact its probably impractical in the long run. I've never been quite sure what will happen when the sanctuary fills up. Proven acclimated animals incapable of rehab for wild release or repeat offenders may very well need to be euthanized in order to maintain proper space withing the limited confines of a sanctuary boundary or for purposes of human safety due to their acclimate behaviors. Honestly I've never broached that topic with Cheri and Vince in the few emails and PM's because its a topic best discussed in person; they may take exception to that view point but as a wildlfe manager having been involved with large predators and human interface that management tool has always been a practical component of any program dealing with such animals.

The NIMBY attitude of having one in a nearby area doesnt mean the animal is going to present a danger, given adequate food and resources a wild croc has no desire to be associated with people unless presented with a reason to be. You want to keep it that way dont feed em, dont put garbage cans chock full of deli delights near their habitat, and dont mess with them in general. When the habitat is perfect for them why do we feel compelled to evict them? If theyre not causing a problem and youre not causing them to be a problem then leave em be. Animals captured and moved from ideal habitat are either going to come back if given the wherewithall or another animal is going to move in...nature abhors a vacuum. Last I knew there's a new one in our neighborhood that took the place of one removed about a year ago. He's not bothering anyone except possibly in their dreams and he seems quite content to cruise his mangrove ponds and the occasional seaside lagoon cruise.

Old Indiana loved to wrestle crocodiles in his younger days, but now, I am shooting Burmese pythons in the everglades of Florida, so they do not kill all the alligators there. Oh, the exciting days of retirement.....


Indiana

good luck with that IJ, adjust that recruitment factor, and stab a few lionfish while youre at it