Israel euthanizes crocodiles after repeated escapes and inhumane treatment
Israeli authorities said Monday that government veterinarians had culled the crocodiles because they threatened the area's residents and were themselves suffering from inhumane treatment. The exact number of crocodiles euthanized and the method of culling were not immediately clear.
"The Nile crocodiles at the farm were being kept in an abandoned compound under poor conditions that constitute animal abuse, with insufficient access to food, which had driven them to cannibalistic behavior,' COGAT, the Israeli defense body that administers civilian affairs in the West Bank, said.
The crocodiles were initially brought to the town of Petzael as a tourist attraction — a business adventure derailed by violence between Israel and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. They were later purchased by an entrepreneur who hoped to sell their skin. Their fate has been an open question since Israel in 2012 passed a law classifying the reptiles as protected animals and banned raising them for sale as meat or merchandise.
'I don't want to think of what will happen if a crocodile manages to escape and reaches the Jordan River, and then we'll have an international incident,' the head of the local community told The Associated Press in 2018, referencing the border with Jordan 4.2 miles (6.8 kilometers) away.
COGAT said that authorities had spent hundreds of thousands of Israeli shekels (more than $29,000) to re-fence the dilapidated farm, which has been in a state of disrepair since it was shut down in 2013. It said that veterinarians were consulted on how to humanely exterminate the animals.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
8 hours ago
- CBS News
Manatee spotted on Cape Cod for first time in nearly a decade
A manatee has been spotted on Cape Cod for the first time since 2016. It was first seen in Mashpee on July 26, according to MassWildlife protected species program manager Erin Burke. It was seen again on July 29 in Mattapoisett, where it briefly ended up stranded on the tidal flats before people helped get it back into the water. MassWildlife has been in contact with the International Fund for Animal Welfare about potentially rescuing the manatee. Burke said water temperatures will soon dip below what a manatee can handle. "The reason they're concerned is because the animal doesn't look well, it looks a little thin," Burke said. Manatees typically make their home in the warm waters off Florida and the Gulf Coast and will migrate further north in the summer. It's uncommon, but not unheard of, for manatees to make their way up to New England, Burke said. A pregnant manatee was rescued on Cape Cod in 2016 as the water turned colder and then released in Florida. In 2023, a manatee was spotted in Quonochontaug Pond in Charlestown, Rhode Island and was later found dead. The IFAW said only four manatee sightings have been documented in Massachusetts in the last 17 years. It is working with federal wildlife officials to monitor the manatee. "We ask that anyone who encounters this manatee or any other marine mammal maintains a safe and respectful distance-at least 150 feet. Do not attempt to feed, touch, or closely approach the animal," the organization said in a statement. "These actions can be harmful to both the animal and the public, and in some cases are a violation of federal law." Anyone who sees the manatee in distress is urged to call the IFAW's stranding hotline at 508-743-9548.
USA Today
18 hours ago
- USA Today
Terrible thirst hits Gaza with polluted aquifers and broken pipelines
GAZA/CAIRO, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Weakened by hunger, many Gazans trek across a ruined landscape each day to haul all their drinking and washing water - a painful load that is still far below the levels needed to keep people healthy. Even as global attention has turned to starvation in Gaza, where after 22 months of a devastating Israeli military campaign a global hunger monitor says a famine scenario is unfolding, the water crisis is just as severe according to aid groups. Though some water comes from small desalination units run by aid agencies, most is drawn from wells in a brackish aquifer that has been further polluted by sewage and chemicals seeping through the rubble, spreading diarrhoea and hepatitis. More: Netanyahu meets security officials as Israel considers full Gaza takeover COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for coordinating aid in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, says it operates two water pipelines into the Gaza Strip providing millions of litres of water a day. Palestinian water officials say these have not been working recently. Israel stopped all water and electricity supply to Gaza early in the war but resumed some supply later though the pipeline network in the territory has been badly damaged. Most water and sanitation infrastructure has been destroyed and pumps from the aquifer often rely on electricity from small generators - for which fuel is rarely available. COGAT said the Israeli military has allowed coordination with aid organisations to bring in equipment to maintain water infrastructure throughout the conflict. Moaz Mukhaimar, aged 23 and a university student before the war, said he has to walk about a kilometre, queuing for two hours, to fetch water. He often goes three times a day, dragging it back to the family tent over bumpy ground on a small metal handcart. "How long will we have to stay like this?" he asked, pulling two larger canisters of very brackish water to use for cleaning and two smaller ones of cleaner water to drink. His mother, Umm Moaz, 53, said the water he collects is needed for the extended family of 20 people living in their small group of tents in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. More: Israel says it will allow controlled entry of goods into Gaza via merchants "The children keep coming and going and it is hot. They keep wanting to drink. Who knows if tomorrow we will be able to fill up again," she said. Their struggle for water is replicated across the tiny, crowded territory where nearly everybody is living in temporary shelters or tents without sewage or hygiene facilities and not enough water to drink, cook and wash as disease spreads. The United Nations says the minimum emergency level of water consumption per person is 15 litres a day for drinking, cooking, cleaning and washing. Average daily consumption in Israel is around 247 litres a day according to Israeli rights group B'Tselem. Bushra Khalidi, humanitarian policy lead for aid agency Oxfam in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories said the average consumption in Gaza now was 3-5 litres a day. Oxfam said last week that preventable and treatable water-borne diseases were "ripping through Gaza", with reported rates increasing by almost 150% over the past three months. Israel blames Hamas for the suffering in Gaza and says it provides adequate aid for the territory's 2.3 million inhabitants. QUEUES FOR WATER "Water scarcity is definitely increasing very much each day and people are basically rationing between either they want to use water for drinking or they want to use a lot for hygiene," said Danish Malik, a global water and sanitation official for the Norwegian Refugee Council. Merely queuing for water and carrying it now accounts for hours each day for many Gazans, often involving jostling with others for a place in the queue. Scuffles have sometimes broken out, Gazans say. Collecting water is often the job of children as their parents seek out food or other necessities. "The children have lost their childhood and become carriers of plastic containers, running behind water vehicles or going far into remote areas to fill them for their families," said Munther Salem, water resources head at the Gaza Water and Environment Quality Authority. With water so hard to get, many people living near the beach wash in the sea. A new water pipeline funded by the United Arab Emirates is planned, to serve 600,000 people in southern Gaza from a desalination plant in Egypt. But it could take several more weeks to be connected. Much more is needed, aid agencies say. UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said the long-term deprivations were becoming deadly. "Starvation and dehydration are no longer side effects of this conflict. They are very much frontline effects." Oxfam's Khalidi said a ceasefire and unfettered access for aid agencies was needed to resolve the crisis. "Otherwise we will see people dying from the most preventable diseases in Gaza - which is already happening before our eyes." (Reporting by Ramadan Abed in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva; writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Fast Company
19 hours ago
- Fast Company
Giving your pets this treat makes them soldiers in the battle against invasive carp
A snack from Pezzy, a mission-driven pet food startup, has just one ingredient: wild-caught silver carp from the Mississippi River. Carp are an invasive species in the river and incredibly destructive. Pezzy is one of a handful of brands now using it as a healthy ingredient in pet snacks—so your dog or cat can help fight against the environmental problem. In theory, it's possible to create 'a robust industry around invasive species,' says Mike Mitchell, the founder of Pezzy Pets, which also makes treats from other invasive species like the devil fish (armored catfish) and lionfish. The problem with carp Asian carp were intentionally introduced to the U.S. in the 1970s to help clean aquaculture ponds. The idea almost immediately went awry when the carp escaped into rivers during the first heavy rainstorm. Without any natural predators, their population exploded. They outcompete native fish for food and have broken the larger food chain. 'They're really decimating native species populations, as well as water quality,' says Julia Kurnik, senior director of innovation startups at the nonprofit World Wildlife Fund's Markets Institute. In June, the environmental group published a report looking at the potential for the pet food industry to help mitigate the challenge. In some parts of the Mississippi River, carp now make up 95% of the biomass. The fish are large—up to 100 pounds—and can jump out of the water and hit people in boats. That, along with the fact that Americans don't eat carp, means that fewer people want to fish in Midwestern rivers—so the species is also impacting the region's $10 billion sport fishing industry. Why most carp go unfished in the U.S. Some states have attempted to get more people to eat the fish. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources tried to rebrand the fish as 'copi' (short for 'copious') and talk up its nutritional profile. Carp are extremely high in protein and omega-3 fatty acids, have a long list of vitamins and essential minerals, and are low in toxins. The flavor is mild. But the fish is also bony, so it can't easily be made into a filet like American consumers expect. It's also hard to get consumers to eat new types of fish. Pezzy initially tried making snacks for humans. 'The story resonated with people—the environmental angle and what we were doing with the communities,' Mitchell says. 'But it's difficult to get people to eat what I would call 'weird fish.'' Some carp are also used to make fertilizer, but because the profit margins are low, there aren't many fisheries focused on it. There's more potential for its use in pet food. Carp in pet food Right now, most pet food is made from byproducts of processing meat for humans. That's a good thing, since it's making use of food that might otherwise be wasted. Still, the number of pets is growing in the U.S., and manufacturers need more supply. 'The growth in pet food demand is really outpacing the availability of those byproducts,' WWF's Kurnik says. A growing number of pet owners also want human-grade food for their dogs or cats, which means producing more meat, and a bigger environmental footprint. 'Instead of sourcing beef directly for one's dog, perhaps carp could fill in there and be a much more environmentally friendly alternative while still being the fresh, nutritious, produced-in-the-U.S. product that I think those pet owners are looking for,' she says. The fish doesn't easily fit into the pet food industry's current supply chain, which isn't set up to process it. The supply is limited at the moment. Small brands like Pezzy, along with others like Archway, Chippin, and Wilder Harrier, have been able to source carp for relatively small production runs. But it would still be a challenge for larger producers to use it as an ingredient. 'There's a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem in that it's hard to invest, go get funds, and invest in large-scale processing for pet food if you don't see demand from the pet food industry. But the pet food industry doesn't typically engage before there's a consistent quality supply that they can judge and then look at and decide,' Kurnik says. WWF has been working to bring together all of the industry players to help move the idea forward. 'I am optimistic that we'll see continued scale on the processing side, and that we'll then be able to reach these bigger pet food companies,' she adds. Four species of Asian carp are so widespread in U.S. rivers that it really isn't feasible to eradicate them. 'You could suppress density, though, which would then lead to increased biodiversity,' Kurnik says. 'You can't eradicate carp, but [you could] lower its population down to a level that native species have a chance and can begin to bounce back and be healthier.' The project could be a model for other invasive species, such as Japanese kelp or apple snails.
