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Jamaica's crocodile guard fights for the protection of feared reptiles
A committed “crocodile assistant” fights in Jamaica against the threat of the dreaded crocodiles. He is committed to the preservation of animals and their habitat.
Jamaica's crocodile guard fights for the protection of feared reptiles
in the glowing sunlight of Jamaica, where the wetlands shine and are full of life, an ancient robber disappears. In the world there is, for example,
The American crocodile (crocodyyl acutus) was once revered and feared on the island, dominated the mangroves and coastal lakes. But in recent years the population has been due to illegal hunting, habitat loss and plastic pollution as well as killings that result from a persistent fear of the locals,
Lawrence Henriques has made it a life work to change that. Known as "the crocodile guard", he has fought for the survival of these animals for the past four decades. He leads the Holland Bay Crocodile Sanctuary , a Grassroots nature conservation project on the island, which is on the side of what he is one of the last liable Jamaica's crocodile habitats. From this remote place, he tries to undo the damage: to cultivate sick crocodiles again healthy, to raise them up and to restore their number in the wild. "There is a real fear of crocodiles in Jamaica," says Henriques. "Many people do not tolerate them. If one appears in the back yard, it is often killed because of the meat or simply out of fear." Although crocodiles are often considered aggressive and dangerous, attacks are rare. According to the global database Crocattack there have been 11 incidents in the past ten years, including a deadly attack in 2018. Henriques is therefore working about changing the narrative about these animals and making people understand that they are much less threatening than their reputation suggests. henriques, who grew up in the Jamaican capital Kingston in the 1960s, always had a preference for "creeping creatures". But the crocodiles fascinated him the most. "There were much more crocodiles and much more living space these days," he recalls. "I always had half a dozen baby crocodiles that I raised in my bedroom." This fascination finally became his calling. After studying abroad and working with the Scientific Exploration Society, a British charity in Belize, he returned to Jamaica in 1980. He was shocked that despite the classification of the crocodiles as endangered in the context of the the American crocodile: from the horror to disappear
the crocodile guard
rescue and rearing
The reality of the brick attacks
at home and study of crocodiles