- Title: CUBA-CROCODILES Baby crocodiles, offspring of Castro gift, reach Cuban swamp
- Date: 5th June 2015
- Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (JUNE 04, 2015) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF FIELD IN HAVANA ZOO SIGN READING "QUARANTINE" VARIOUS OF CROCODILES IN HAVANA ZOO (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VET FROM CARNIVOROUS AREA IN ZOO, ANGEL CORDERO, SAYING: "The animals are in a state of very good health, everything turned out well and the animals (in quarantine) have been freed and will go to their final destinat
- Embargoed: 20th June 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Cuba
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA9WHNJILQJG08EIWE1OF69LLQN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Ten baby crocodiles transferred from Sweden have reached a Cuban hatchery to strengthen the species and extend the blood lines of a pair of Cuban crocodiles former President Fidel Castro gave to a Soviet cosmonaut in the 1970s.
The hatchlings, a gift from a Swedish zoo in April, were delivered to the Zapata Swamp National Park's hatchery on Thursday (June 4) after a 40-day quarantine in Havana. Scientists hope to boost a species thinned by loss of habitat and interbreeding with the American crocodile.
"The animals are in a state of very good health, everything turned out well and the animals (in quarantine) have been freed and will go to their final destination, to stay so that they continue to develop successfully," said a vet at the zoo from the carnivorous area, Angel Cordero.
"Very well, very well , they have a good body condition for their age, have very good size and weight, really healthy animals. You can see that they have been well treated," added Gustavo Sosa, a vet at the Zapata Swamp hatchery, where 4,000 to 5,000 Cuban crocodiles are nurtured.
Each year, the hatchery releases as many animals as scientists believe are ready for the wild, where they can grow to 2.5 to 2.8 meters long, about 8 to 9 feet.
Another 6,000 to 8,000 are in the wild, numbers that Cuban officials are trying to keep from dwindling.
The newly arrived 21-month-old siblings, each about a meter (3 feet) long, could be held for a year or more before release.
They were born to a pair of Cuban crocodiles Fidel Castro gave cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov, who had nowhere to keep them and placed them in a Moscow zoo. The zoo transferred them in 1981 to Stockholm's Skansen zoo, where they have been breeding ever since.
Sosa added he was happy to be a part of the story.
"Very happy, in general very pleased to be a part of this story and not only myself but all the farm workers."
Cuban crocodiles are restricted to the national park on Cuba's southern coast and the Isle of Youth further south. They are virtually no threat to humans. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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