Bhubaneswar, India -- The Indian forestry department released 48 crocodiles into the wild last week in an attempt to stop the depletion of the nation's mangrove forests.
Forestry officials said releasing the potentially deadly beasts, which were all bred in captivity, should make poachers reconsider journeying into the wild to gather their ill-gotten gains, The (Kolkata) Telegraph said Tuesday.
"We are pressing into service these reptiles for forest conservation. Once the crocs are firmly ensconced in the water inlets, human intrusion would greatly be curtailed," forestry official Golakh Rout said. "As the people here take the water route to sneak into the forest, we feel the crocs will come in handy to protect the greens,"
The Telegraph said the reptiles were all released within the Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary, where a large amount of mangrove trees have been felled by area residents.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International.
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Going by the track record of
Going by the track record of crocodiles released in the wild, these poor crocs will die in no time. Then the poachers will once more have free reign over the forest. It would hvae been smarter to investigate why the crocodiles don't survive in the first place.
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