Look what they found in the Rio Grande.
Mexican fishermen captured a 7.5-foot-long crocodile in the Rio Grande, the river that divides Mexico and the United States, and turned the animal over to a local animal shelter, authorities reported on Sunday.The animal was caught on a fisherman's line on Saturday in a sparsely populated stretch of the river on the outskirts of Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas.
The crocodile weighed about 130 pounds and appeared to be in good condition, said Jose Moreno Araiza, a commander of the Nuevo Laredo fire department, where the fishermen first brought the animal in the back of a pickup truck.
It was then turned over to the local Animal Protection Society, whose president, Gina Ferrara, said the croc would be kept for the time being in improvised holding area complete with a pool of water. Federal environmental officials were informed of the capture, and will eventually decide what is to be done with the animal.
Crocodiles do not normally inhabit the Rio Grande, and authorities believe it may have been brought to the area as a pet and then released into the river by its owner.
Undocumented migrants frequently swim or ride inner tubes across the Rio Grande to reach the United States.
From a practical perspective that would probably be MORE effective than a fence. As the Governor of Arizona said earlier this year, show me a 50 foot wall and I'll show you a 51 foot ladder.
The fence idea is just dumb - for starters, in a river basin the land under it will quickly erode. Ranchers and farmes need access to the river for irrigation. Plus, I saw one article that said the fence as proposed would only be 5 feet tall. I could high jump more than that back in high school - a five foot fence wouldn't stop anybody.
Posted by: Gritsforbreakfast on October 10, 2006 3:58 PM