Cop’s post bragging about skinning, eating protected crocodile sparks outrage
Animal advocates are enraged over this alleged “croc-pot” dinner.
A police officer and his pals in Mexico are under fire from animal-rights activists after the savage crew skinned and ate a member of a threatened crocodile species, then shared disturbing pictures of their grisly deed online.
“Animal abuse must be condemned throughout Mexico,” advocacy group Animal Heroes told Jam Press of the interspecies police brutality, which occurred in Tepalcatepec, in the western state of Michoacán.
The group reportedly happened across the 11.5-foot Morelet’s crocodile — a species that’s protected in Mexico — swimming in a river when they decided they wanted the reptile for the pot.
According to Animal Heroes, the freelance crocodile hunters, among whom was at least one municipal police officer, “captured the crocodile, killed it, and later cooked it.” They then posted pics across WhatsApp and Facebook, bragging that they enjoyed an “exotic dish together.”
One of the appalling pics shows the poachers posing gleefully next to the flayed carcass of the slain critter as it hangs by a rope from the roof. Another shows a sizzling pan of meat chunks, harvested from their alleged crocodile victim.
In light of the heinous crime, Animal Heroes has filed a complaint with the country’s environmental protection agency, known as PROFEPA, demanding that they “investigate and punish those responsible.”
“We cannot and should never continue to take advantage of animals,” they declared.
The illicit feast also spawned outrage online, with one incensed poster fuming, “Whoever savagely and cowardly violates an animal deserves the full weight of the law.”
“There is no doubt that the human is the most ignorant being on the planet,” wrote another, while one aghast commenter exclaimed, “The savagery of these people disturbs me.”
It’s yet unclear if PROFEPA has launched an investigation into the croc killing.
The Morelet’s crocodile, which is found in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala, nearly went extinct in the 1940s and ’50s due to excessive hunting, prompting local governments to outlaw killing them, according to the World Land Trust. Thanks to these conservation efforts, there are now almost “20,000 adults and the [International Union for Conservation of Nature’s] Red List of Threatened Species has reclassified it as Least Concern,” the trust writes.
Despite the population’s remarkable rebound, the Morelet’s crocodile is still threatened by habitat loss and illegal poaching, which means their numbers need to be monitored constantly.