Customs authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia have discovered and seized four crocodile legs prepared on wooden sticks in a package from the US.
The “crab sticks” from the feet of a Mississippi alligator were addressed as a gift to a 48-year-old man, the main customs office in Dortmund announced Tuesday. According to this, the customs authorities in Gelsenkirchen found the preparations at the end of November.
Mississippi alligators are strictly protected. A permit is required for importation into the European Union of live or dead animals of the species, or goods made from animal parts. Since there was no such thing, customs confiscated the find. The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation must now decide whether to use them as a deterrent for illustrative and training purposes or whether to destroy them. (AFP/jmh)