Crocodile Hatchlings Flown 'Home' To Cuba

The offspring of a pair of crocodiles given to a Soviet cosmonaut by former Cuban President Fidel Castro in the 1970s have been taken home to the communist island.

The 10 baby Cuban crocodiles, born in a zoo in Sweden, are now 20 months old and measure 1m long (3ft 3ins).

They were transported from Stockholm's Skansen zoo by zookeeper Jonas Wahlstrom.

"There are very few of them (Cuban crocodiles) left, maybe 100, and now they have 10 more," said Mr Wahlstrom. "They are the most beautiful and rarest crocodile species, and also the most aggressive."

The zookeeper was on hand to look after the reptiles after they were taken out of the cargo hold.

"For some reason KLM (the airline) did not want crocodiles in the passenger section," Mr Wahlstrom said.

Their parents were born in 1974 and given to cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov as a gesture of friendship.

But the cosmonaut, whose wife "didn't want to share an apartment with two growing crocodiles", had nowhere to keep the animals which can grow up to 9ft long and so gave them to Moscow zoo.

However, the zoo was not able to look after them adequately either and they were transferred to Stockholm in 1981.

The pair have been looked after by Mr Wahlstrom since 1984 - he gave them the names Hillary and Castro in the 1990s.

The Cuban crocodile is an endangered species, dying out because of loss of habitat, hunting and interbreeding with the American crocodile.

They generally live into their 80s and mate throughout their lives - the new babies should be able to adapt easily to the wild, the zookeeper explained.

They will be quarantined for a week and Mr Wahlstrom said he hoped they would be released to return to the swamp during the week he is there.

"That's my dream," he said.