50 Crocodiles Seized at London's Heathrow Airport

Fifty live crocodiles were seized at London's Heathrow Airport (LHR) last week after border officials suspected inhumane travel conditions.

The baby crocodiles arrived in London on a flight from Malaysia. They were heading to a farm in rural England to be bred for their meat before they were confiscated. A Border Force official said that "little attention" was paid when packing the reptiles. They were crammed into five transit boxes — 10 baby crocs per box, far exceeding the International Air Transport Association’s regulation limit of four.

The cramped conditions caused the crocodiles to fight, and one of the animals later died as a result. The remaining 49 crocodiles have now been taken into custody by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and will be found new homes.

"It is just not acceptable for reptiles to be transported in this way," Grant Miller, head of the national Border Force CITES team at Heathrow.

Last year, 200,000 reptiles landed at LHR, according to the airport's animal reception center.

H/T: BBC