Men Sought For Torturing, Dragging Protected 12-Foot Crocodile To Death

[Ian David]

POSTED: 11:11 pm EST December 19, 2005
UPDATED: 11:21 pm EST December 19, 2005

Florida Fish and Wildlife officials in South Florida are searching for four men who allegedly tortured and then dragged a 12-foot crocodile to death after removing it from its protected habitat, according to a Local 6 News report.

Wildlife officials found Charlie, an American saltwater crocodile who lived in a protected habitat near Key Largo, with his jaws taped shut. The skin from his stomach had been burned away from being dragged.

Witnesses said four men nearly beat the crocodile to death in front of neighbors and then killed it by dragging it behind a car.

"Basically, they killed a harmless animal that has been here 17 years and the animal had never hurt anything," a neighbor who wished to remain anonymous said. "They beat it to death."

Some neighbors snapped photos of four smiling men holding a chain and standing around the

More:
http://www.local6.com/news/5582468/detail.html