聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Once again I am stunned by a news story on BBC, but this time it was about a crazy Canadian story.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The title of the article read, 鈥淒ozens of full-grown crocodiles rescued from Toronto home.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I can't even tell you how many questions came flooding through my mind. In fact I started laughing aloud a little bit because the title seemed so preposterous, it couldn't be real.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 How could someone have dozens of fully grown crocodiles in their home?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The article then included a statement saying, 鈥淢ore than a hundred crocodiles, alligators, and caimans have arrived at an animal sanctuary after being kept in a Toronto man's home for 10 years.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Not only did the guy have crocodiles, but he had alligators and caimans 鈥� essentially a smaller version of an alligator 鈥� as well.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Yes, these reptiles are illegal in Toronto, and I would assume the rest of Canada, because seriously, crocodiles and alligators, why would you want something that could devour you as a pet?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The reptiles mostly measured around one metre in length, but one was apparently three metres long. For those who know feet better, that's approximately 3.3 feet to 9.8 feet long!
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The individual who had been keeping them at his house, I guess, at least did the right thing and called a local zoo to ask for help in caring for the animals after they grew too big for his home.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Either this guy had a giant house or, in my mind, the animals were entwined much like a snake pit, each one crawling on top of another.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 It took approximately 20 volunteers from the Indian River Reptile Zoo to load the mass of animals onto trucks to transport them. The rescue of the animals was apparently well-timed though as the zoo has just finished a new, million dollar Crocodile Rescue Pool.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 A happy coincidence I guess, but seriously what was a guy doing with that many fully grown alligators and crocodiles in his home? I'm still flabbergasted as you can tell. I can see maybe one or two if someone were inclined to purchase illegal animals, but what do you need that many for?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Then answer, which I was too stunned to think of myself, was that the guy had planned to start a business selling them. So, I guess they potentially bred more quickly than he had expected and selling them, because they are illegal, became more difficult than he had thought.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 People amaze me every day. Human behaviour is an interesting thing. Typically these crazy stories reported on come from elsewhere in the world, but, nope, Canada is just as weird as the rest of the world.
