Crocodile skin trade increasing in SA, with Mexico and Japan top buyers

The trade in crocodiles has increased in SA, with thousands of skins, skulls and rug mats leaving the country for the Americas and Europe in the past year, an animal rights organisation said on Tuesday.

This remark follows the arrest of  Alfred Matika, 28, Johannes Matika, 41, Theophillas Ntsonda, 29 and Jackson Sibisi, 37, who appeared in the Klerksdorp magistrate’s court on Monday for allegedly stealing a 2.5m Nile crocodile in Hartbeesfontein.

Such animals weigh about 300kg to 330kg.

The men were allegedly found with the large animal shortly after the theft. Since the crocodile had spent a long time without water, it was in a bad condition, dehydrated, with pale, whitish hide after it had been hidden under branches at an abandoned farmhouse.

The animal was returned to its owner and placed back in its small dam.

Owner Wybrand Lambrecht, who runs a crocodile farm, refused to comment on the theft but told TimesLIVE that the crocodile was doing well.

“The crocodile is doing fine. No further comments. Thank you,” he said.

Ban Animal Trade  said the legal trade in crocodiles and body parts of the animal has increased in the country in the past two years.

Last year, Mexico received most of the exported 5,396 crocodile skins, followed by Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Italy. This increased from 5,188 the previous year, with Mexico again taking most of the stock. The UK received 10 wet-salted skins including one crusted skin that year, said chairperson for Ban Animal Trade Smaragda Louw.

“All of these skins would be used for handbags, shoes and wristwatch straps. Crocodile skin export in SA is massive. Last year, 20kg of crocodile meat was exported to Belgium. It is hard to say why those [accused] men would have stolen the crocodile ... but crocodile meat is a thing and maybe they were waiting for someone to come and get the animal for meat,” she said.

Police spokesperson Col Adéle Myburgh said the crime was abnormal as crocodiles have not before been reported stolen in the province.

“In all the 15 years I have been working at the provincial office, we have never heard of a crocodile being stolen. It is usually pangolins, tortoises, lions and their claws. Two weeks back it was apes but this is the first crocodile that I know of.”

She said police suspect the men were waiting for the animal to be collected and there are suspicions the animal, valued at R25,000  was going to be used for muti.

Meanwhile, the US and the UK seem more interested in crocodile skulls, receiving 150 and 20 respectively last year. In 2021, two litres of crocodile oil, which is extracted from the skin, was exported to a cosmetics company in France, said Louw.

The four accused are expected to return to the Hartbeesfontein periodical court on Monday. They face charges of contravening the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act. 

TimesLIVE

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