News

Heavy fine for hurting crocodiles

THERE IS A heavy fine and/or imprisonment associated with messing with crocodiles which under Jamaican law is an endangered species.

According to the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), there is a $100,000 or 12 month fine for hurting, capturing or bothering the reptiles. The animals are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, which lays out this fine as a punishment for those who are found guilty of breaching the laws governing the protection of the crocodiles or other endangered species.

NEPA has issued this warning in light of recent stories where crocodiles have been captured. There was also a story last week in which a man threatened to exact revenge on a crocodile which bit him twice.

Aside from the Wild Life Protection Act, there is also the Endangered Species Act, which is supposed to regulate the exportation of specimens that are derived from indigenous Jamaican animals or plants which are threatened with extinction and may be affected by trade and may become threatened if international trade in specimens of such species is not strictly regulated.

According to Richard Nelson, of NEPA's Biodiversity Department, the animals are sometimes captured by persons who then demand money for people to view the crocodiles. "Sometimes they tell us we have to pay for the animals but we tell them we won't do that and they will tell us that you have big man who pay $40,000 or $50,000," he said.

He adds though that such a practise was uncommon.

"This usually happens after there is a period of heavy rain or hurricane as the crocodiles love water and will follow the water. But, as soon as the water recedes they go back to the wetlands. It's not a major problem though," he said.

Under the Endangered Species Act, which was passed in 2000, the fine for trading, can be up to $2 million or up to two years imprisonment.

The reptiles are also protected under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) which Jamaica ratified in 1997. The convention controls the trade in wild life among countries which are a part of the convention.