Dubai: After a month at Dubai Zoo, Harry the baby Nile crocodile acquired by Gulf News to highlight the existing illegal animal trade in the UAE, has put on a few grammes and grown 1.5cm.
Unlike hundreds of others who often perish in transit on their journey from the wild to private ownership, Harry, a three-month-old Nile crocodile, one of the most dangerous predators in the animal world, has been given a new lease of life.
Dubai Zoo received many enquiries on the health and whereabouts of Harry, the juvenile croc, leading to special signage going up near his terrarium to make finding him easier for visitors, said Nissar Ahmad Seddiq, foreman at the zoo.
On his arrival he measured 25 centimetres and weighed 50 grammes. When Gulf News visited him this week, he had grown to 26.5 cm and weighed in at 59 grammes.
"He is doing very well because he has a heat lamp to give him a better climate. It is 24 degrees Celsius for him in there," said Seddiq, who has been working at the zoo for 35 years.
Harry is fed on alternate days a mixture of minced beef and chicken and sometimes he has to be force fed as he does not eat at all, he added.
It is safer for residents if he is kept by professionals in a secure environment like the Dubai Zoo. As Gulf News reported recently, dangerous animals carelessly kept as pets pose a threat to the public. A trader has been arrested and charged with endangering lives in the case of a python that was found on the streets of Sharjah.
According to police, the man, a trader working at the Bird and Animal Market where Harry was also bought, contacted Sharjah Police as he wanted to claim his Burmese python. It had cost him Dh40,000. The snake was found in the Al Naba'a area after falling from a date palm tree.
The illegal sale of wild and exotic animals thriving in the market had led animal welfare advocates to call for more control and implementation of laws.
UAE Federal Law 11 of 2002, Article 26, states that anyone who imports species from Appendix 1 of the Convention for International Trade of Endangered Species without proper permission is liable to imprisonment for up to six months and could face a fine of up to Dh50,000.
- 25cm: Harry's length when he was rescued
- 26.5cm: Harry's length after a month at Dubai Zoo
- 50g: Harry's weight when he was rescued
- 59g: Harry's weight after a month at Dubai Zoo
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