Snap's Last Season
Snap, the little Nile crocodile who has been cared for at Aquaworld for the last five years, is off to pastures new at the end of this summer.
Snap had been up for sale in the pet trade and that was why he was "rescued" and homed at Aquaworld - Nile crocodiles are simply not pets and should never be sold to unqualified folk without the right conditions to keep an animal which can grow to as much as 6 meters and kill people!
We ourselves lack the space to keep such a large creature comfortably, so we started looking for a permanent home for Snap last year. Unfortunately, things had kind of stalled until the arrival of animal welfare officer David Barnes at Aquaworld last month. He checked out the well-being of our animals and was very complimentary about their condition(s). We then turned to the problem of a home for Snap, and David really did set the wheels in motion.
He soon had an offer of a place for our little croc in a new, state-of-the-art facility in Spain and put us in touch with the relevant CITES authorities to ensure that all the paper-work was in order. Only one problem remained, that of the actual time Snap would have to be crated up in order to reach Spain by normal commercial flights. As David set to work on trying to find someone who might somehow enable a direct flight from Crete to Spain, an easier and equally effective alternative opened up.
Mr Lesueur, the director of the new Attica Zoological Park just outside Athens has today confirmed that Snap will be given just what he needs there - a great environment with caring people. Athens is only forty-five minutes flying time from Crete, so we estimate that Snap will only have to put up with being in a box for two-and-a-half hours or so and, much to our delight, we will be able to accompany him personally to his new home.
On behalf of Snap, our sincere thanks go to David Barnes, Dimitris Vernicos and Mr Lesueur of Attica Zoo, as well as to Enrique Prieto of the Cocodrilo Park in Torremolinos who originally offered him a home.
And, of course, our sincere thanks to all of you for your interest :-)
2 comments:
How wonderfull that snap has gotten to a nice place.
I must say, that it breaks my heart to read that you are planning to sell aquaworld.
My husband and I have been visiting aquaworld in 2005 + 2006 + 2007 when we were on vacation on Crete.
We are planning a trip to crete in the summer 2008 and hope that we can go to aquaworld again.
You have a way to spellbind us with your talks about the animals and there background.
Last summer in 2007 I finally concered my fear and got to pet the biggest snake you got, and ever since I have been looking forward to be doing it again.
Best regards, Nina Pedersen - A dane living in Sweden
Hello Nina and family,
Yes, we were very pleased to get Snap off to a good, spacious home with caring keepers to look after him as he grows.
In fact, aquaworld has been up for sale for a couple of years now. Of course, selling such a business requires a very special kind of buyer - so we do not expect things to happen overnight.
I am in Australia at the moment, but will be returning to Crete in two weeks time and look forward to seeing you along with all our regular visitors this coming summer.
Thanks again for your kind comments and we'll see if you can manage to get "up close and personal" with Burma the python again!
Cheers,
John McLaren
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