British Raise Crocodiles for Food
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
LONDON – They may not be the cutest – or friendliest – livestock you can find, but crocodiles are being farmed in Britain for the first time.
A farmer in the Fenlands of eastern England, Andy Johnson, has set up a breeding program after importing one male and seven female Nile crocodiles from a farm in Africa.
Mr. Johnson, 36, expects it will be at least three years before his operation at Old Hurst, Cambridgeshire, produces any of the low fat, low cholesterol, red meat that is making crocodile an increasingly popular item on restaurant menus.
Housed in a specially heated building at his farm, the largest of the crocodiles is an 8 1/2 foot female with the unlikely name of Cuddles.
“It all started off as a bit of a joke,” Mr. Johnson said yesterday, “but the more people asked me if I’d done anything about it, the more I looked into it. What we were amazed by was how environmentally friendly it is.”
