150 crocodiles and alligators removed from Toronto home

Friday, August 14, 2015, 8:28 AM - Corralling 150 large reptiles must be quite an undertaking.

That was the task faced by Bry Loyst and around 20 volunteers when a Toronto-area couple turned over their impressive collection of crocodiles, alligators and caimans to the Indian River Reptile Zoo. 

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," Loyst, who is the curator of the Peterborough-area reptile zoo, told CBC. "I could not believe that somebody had that many crocodilians and raised them to adulthood. These were not baby little crocodiles, they were adults."

According to Loyst, some of the reptiles were more than 3 m long, and some had been kept by their owner for as long as 10 years. 

The owners, whose names and exact location in the Toronto area Loyst hasn't disclosed, approached the zoo for help when it became clear they weren't able to keep them any longer.

"I think [the owners] just realized that enough is enough, and they need a larger place," Loyst told the Toronto Star. "Kudos to them. A lot of people don’t do the right thing with exotic pets, and they actually did."

The reptile horde filled four trucks, and were transported individually in modified cardboard tubes used for construction.

Loyst told the Star the animals had been well kept, and their owners helped pay for an enlarged enclosure at the zoo to house them.

SOURCE: CBC News | Toronto Star