CROCODILE FARMING

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 920, 13 March 1930, Page 16

CROCODILE FARMING

NEW COMPANY FORMED IN QUEENSLAND THRILLING POSSIBILITIES It will soon be possible to tell your friends that you have shares in a handbag ranch, says the Sydney “Daily Guardian.” Australian Crocodile Farms, ■which is to be registered as a limited company. is issuing a prospectus. The company hopes to obtain 9,000 hides a year, and in addition to the hides, the teeth are marketable as ivory, and, together with the oil extracted from the carcase, the average return is expected to work out at a £1 a crocodile. The company will operate in North ern Australia, and will establish three crocodile farms. In the course of a long experience as a crocodile drover, “The Guardian” crocodile expert has had ample, proof of the difficulty of handling these beasts at shearing time. It is easier to wait till the moulting season, when the peeled animal does not feel the cold so much, and rugging may be dispensed with. Another difficulty which will probably be encountered by the company is the grading into sizes. If an order for a gross of handbag-size crocodiles is to be filled, it is no use rounding up a lot of suitcase crocodiles. Then again, the teeth. Our crocodile expert had a five-minute contract with a crocodile farmer to examine the teeth of the stock, and report any hollows or signs of pyorrhea. He broke his contract by four and onehalf minutes. Possibly, Australian Crocodile Farms have more up-to-date methods. “Only 3 weeks are available for actual hunting,” says the prospectus. The other 22 weeks must be allowed for establishing the farms, for the rainy season during which crocodile country is under flood, and for marketing.” This hunting, of course, is only for wild crocodiles. The farm crocodiles will probably wander about the place with cow-bells on, and affectionately rub their muzzles against the farmhand at peeling time. If the industry proves profitable, it may be necessary to form, on the same lines as the Egg Board, a Crocodile Board, which will rule that any householders keeping more than 20 crocodiles must be registered as a garage, or something like that. Investors who have for years nursed a secret yearning to have a half-share in a crocodile had better get in early to avoid the rush, as this looks like developing into something big.