Israel kills hundreds of crocodiles at abandoned farm without notifying the owner – Gadi Bitan
Israeli officials from the Civil Administration, the governing body in the West Bank, and the Nature and Parks Authority killed several hundred Nile crocodiles at an abandoned farm on Sunday.
The owner, Gadi Bitan, says the action was illegal, performed without his knowledge, and harmed a species protected under international conventions. The Civil Administration, however, said the move was necessary to protect the public from potential danger.
According to Bitan, Civil Administration officials arrived at his farm in Petzael, a West Bank settlement, without notifying him. They drained the pools where the crocodiles lived, shot and killed all the animals, and then used a bulldozer to collect and bury the bodies in an undisclosed location.
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Bitan claims that the farm was “home to 800 crocodiles” and that all were killed. “This action will gravely harm Israel’s image, as this is a species protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species,” he said. The Civil Administration, however, reports that 262 crocodiles were killed, with the rest having recently died from poor conditions.
The farm, operational for over two decades, closed to visitors after tourism declined during the Second Intifada, which ended in 2005. Since 2013, when the Nile crocodile was classified as a protected species in Israel, Bitan has been unable to find a solution for relocating the animals.
“The Civil Administration did not help me find a solution, but I held on to the farm without making a single shekel,” Bitan said. He claims he had an agreement with a company in Morocco to transport the crocodiles, but it fell through due to a war. “I was about to finalise an agreement with another country, but Civil Administration officials decided to break into private property and do as they pleased.”
The Civil Administration claims the decision to kill the crocodiles was made due to the danger they posed to local communities. They also stated that veterinary reports showed the animals were kept in “harsh conditions that amount to animal abuse,” with a lack of food leading to cannibalistic behavior.
“It should be noted that, since the place was closed down [twenty years ago], fencing infrastructure has deteriorated and fallen into ruin,” the Civil Administration said, adding that this “resulted in a number of incidents when crocodiles escaped into nearby communities and nature reserves, posing an actual threat to life and limb.”
The Civil Administration claims they had repeatedly contacted Bitan about the fencing and care of the animals but were met with a “lack of cooperation.” They also stated that they had refenced the farm at a cost of “several hundred thousand shekels,” but even this “failed to provide hermetic protection.”
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Bitan vehemently denied these allegations. “I made sure the place was fenced and that the crocodiles received proper treatment. Nobody was even scratched by these animals. There were some cases when people broke in, but no real damage was caused, and I made sure they were escorted out.”
The Israeli NGO “Let the Animals Live” condemned the Civil Administration’s actions, calling it a “violent and cruel killing of animals that stands in contrast to any moral standard.”
They added that this “action is a crude violation of Israel’s international commitments to protect wildlife and the animal protection law. An immediate investigation is required to find out who gave the order and who approved it.”
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