{"id":3089,"date":"2025-09-06T09:15:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T09:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/3089\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T09:15:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T09:15:11","slug":"no-smiles-for-illegally-released-crocodile-in-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/3089\/","title":{"rendered":"No smiles for illegally released crocodile in Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

I visited the Basque country this summer. Wildfire nightmares dominated the news there, but a curious \u2018croc horror\u2019 story was rather under the media radar. Boys had noticed a mysterious creature swimming in the waters of a popular bathing spot in Castilla La-Mancha.<\/p>\n

Spain has the most diverse wildlife in Western Europe. Bears and wolves inhabit the Picos de Europa and a unique species of lynx is found only on the Iberian Peninsula. But the La Mancha creature was not any of these. Had the teenagers discovered a previously unknown species, to rival the famous lynx?<\/p>\n

The creature turned out to be a crocodile. It was not the first one discovered in Spain, but its presence caused a stir.<\/p>\n

\"Picture:Picture: Guardia Civil Albacete<\/p>\n

Crocs, the world\u2019s largest living reptiles, are the stuff of nightmares \u2014 \u2018Never smile at a crocodile!\u2019<\/p>\n

Bathers feared entering the water. Don Quixote, Spanish literature\u2019s most famous son, famously tilted at La Mancha\u2019s windmills. Where was he now when his country needed him?<\/p>\n

The police captured the alien beast and took it to Madrid Zoo. The one-metre-long reptile was identified as a \u2018caiman\u2019. A victim of the illegal pet trade, it had been smuggled into Spain from South America. As it grew, the exotic pet probably became too difficult to keep at home, so its owner released it into the reservoir. But had swimmers anything to fear from the intruder?<\/p>\n

\"SEPRONASEPRONA personnel from the guardiacivil_ab, Environmental Agents, staff of the Albacete Wildlife Recovery Center and partners of the fishing club of Almansa have participated in the capture of a Yacar\u00e9 caiman specimen, almost a meter long, that was spotted in the waters of the Almansa marsh. This alligator, which is registered in Appendix II of the List of Protected Species of #CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), will be handed over to the officials of the Madrid Zoo. The Benemerita is now working on locating the person who released the alligator in the Almanse marsh.\u00a0 Picture: Guardia Civil Albacete<\/p>\n

There are no wild crocodiles in Europe. The nearest ones live in Africa, where the Nile crocodile is said to kill several hundred people each year. I remember kneeling beside a wild one and stroking its back as it rested by a pool in the Gambia. Fed by locals as a tourist attraction, it was safe to do so. Their low metabolism means that crocs can go for weeks without eating.<\/p>\n

Such fraternisation was out of the question in Queensland. Notices along a river there warned you not to stand too close to the water\u2019s edge, lest a salt water giant leap out and grab you. Such caution pays off… Australia records less than four deaths from crocs each year.<\/p>\n

Locals in Northern India told me that the local fish-eating gharials were no threat although, very occasionally, one of these fish-eating narrow-snouted creatures mistakes a child for prey and bites.<\/p>\n

It is also extremely rare for an American alligator to attack people.<\/p>\n

But are caimans also squeaky clean?<\/p>\n

The Pantanal is a swamp, half the size of France, at the centre of South America. You enter it in a four-wheeled vehicle driven by a licenced guide. Every 50 to 100kilometres or so, the land rises above the water-table, supporting a small farm. Farmers offer accommodation and horses for hire.<\/p>\n

\"CaimanCaiman in the Pantanal. Picture: Richard Collins\u00a0<\/p>\n

You explore this extraordinary wetland on horseback. The water can reach up to the animals\u2019 haunches, Your feet are submerged in the waters. Spectacled caimans, their eyes just above the water surface, watch you motionless. They were said to be harmless. The horses seemed nervous of snakes and could \u2018rear up\u2019 on encountering a long stick in the water. Caimans, however, didn\u2019t seem to upset them. We swam in open pools in the evening.<\/p>\n

Black caimans, more than four metres long, attack people occasionally, but the La Mancha interloper, a \u2018yacare\u2019 caiman, doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I visited the Basque country this summer. Wildfire nightmares dominated the news there, but a curious \u2018croc horror\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2386,3689,3690,61,1849,60,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-3089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-outdoors","9":"tag-richard-collins","10":"tag-crocodile","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-invasive-species","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}