Ben-Gvir’s proposal envisions using crocodiles as a living security barrier around prisons such as Ketziot Prison.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman has reclassified the Nile crocodile as a “tended” or “managed wild animal,” removing a regulatory barrier that previously restricted the reptiles to licensed zoos and allowing authorized security agencies to keep them.

The decision, made despite objections from the ministry’s legal advisers, creates the legal framework for National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s proposal to surround high-security prisons with crocodile-filled moats.

Under the previous classification as a “protected wild animal,” Nile crocodiles could only be housed in zoological facilities.

The new designation permits authorized security bodies to maintain the animals.

Ben-Gvir’s proposal, dubbed the “crocodile prison” or “Alligator Alcatraz,” envisions using crocodiles as a living security barrier around prisons such as Ketziot Prison.

The plan is intended to deter escape attempts by Palestinian security prisoners while reducing the costs associated with prison security.

Although the proposal has not advanced to construction, the Israel Prison Service has begun preliminary feasibility work.

Officials have visited crocodile farms, including Hamat Gader, to examine handling procedures, winter care requirements and operational safety before deciding whether the concept could be implemented.

The proposal has drawn opposition from the Nature and Parks Authority, which argues that it conflicts with the legal purposes for which wild animals may be kept.

The authority said crocodiles may be held only for educational, research and public information purposes.

“We need to protect them, not have them protect us. That is not the spirit of the law,” Nature and Parks Authority officials told Ben-Gvir and Silman.

The authority also pointed to problems associated with crocodile farming in Israel, including incidents in which crocodiles escaped into the wild and situations that posed risks to human life.

Former Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan ultimately ended crocodile farming after receiving a recommendation from the advisory committee of the Nature and Parks Authority’s plenum.

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Crocodiles are thriving and reproducing in the Jordan Valley, but their growth has become a major problem for the area. 

By: AP

An Israeli businessman appears to have bitten off more than he can chew with plans for a crocodile farm in a Jordan Valley community.

Hundreds of crocodiles have been stranded at the farm in a remote spot in the Jordan Valley — left behind by a pair of failed business ventures.

The crocodiles were brought to the settlement of Petzael in the mid-1990s as a tourist attraction. Ensuing Israeli-Palestinian violence kept visitors away, prompting the crocodiles’ purchase by entrepreneur Gadi Biton, who hoped to sell them for their skin.

But his venture flopped after Israel passed a law in 2012 defining the crocodile as a protected animal and banning raising the animals for sale as meat or merchandise. Multiple attempts to sell them abroad have failed.

“We found ourselves with hundreds of crocodiles in this farm that no one knows what to do with,” said David Elhayani, head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council. A lone worker feeds the animals dead chickens once every eight days.

Dozens of the crocodiles lazed recently on the sun-baked shores of a lagoon on the property, their jaws ajar, revealing menacing teeth.

The animals have become a pain for the owner, the region and Israel. Dozens of crocodiles have escaped on two occasions, including once when 70 flew the coop only to be found after a three-day croc-hunt. The reptiles, which can live well into their 70s, are also reproducing. Their numbers are expected to grow to the thousands in the coming years.

“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,” Elhayani said. “Maybe then someone will wake up and find a quick solution to this problem.”

Biton, who declined to speak to The Associated Press, has attempted to resettle the crocodiles in Cyprus, but numerous attempts to do so have failed because of opposition by residents there.

COGAT, the Israeli defense body that administers civilian affairs in Judea and Samaria, said it is working to find a “practical solution” to the crocodile conundrum. It accused the farm owner of a “lack of cooperation,” without elaborating.

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