A group of Venezuelan biologists and veterinarians are raising hatchlings of the endangered Orinoco crocodile and releasing them into the wild in a bid to prevent, or at least delay, its extinction. - REUTERS
00:00Conservationists say there are fewer than 100 Orinoco crocodiles left in the wild.
00:08They live here in the Orinoco River Basin, which covers most of Venezuela and spills into Colombia.
00:15In a bid to avoid the extinction of one of the world's largest living reptiles, the Venezuelan Crocodile Specialist Group have been raising their young.
00:23But they say they are losing this race against time.
00:27Decades of poaching for leather pushed the Orinoco crocodile to the brink.
00:32Omar Hernandez, a biologist and head of Venezuelan Conservation Foundation Fudeci, says poverty among Venezuelans means they are now hunted for a different reason.
00:44The problem remains the same. They are being killed for food and they eat the eggs.
00:49So even if we release caimans, there is still the pressure of hunting.
00:53Additionally, there are poverty issues in the countryside as people eat whatever they can find.
00:58There is no enforcement of regulations or protection measures.
01:03The scientists collect the eggs or hatchlings from where crocodiles are known to nest.
01:08They also breed captive adults kept at a zoo and a biodiversity centre and cattle ranch in central Venezuela.
01:15The babies are raised until they are about a year old and grow to a weight of around 13 pounds.
01:25Every year the group releases around 200 young crocs into the wild.
01:30But Hernandez is never confident of their survival due to a lack of awareness among the general public.
01:36The members of the crocodile specialist group are not getting any younger either.
01:46The next generation of biologists have mostly fled turmoil in Venezuela for jobs elsewhere.
01:51But the head of the group, Alvaro Velasco, says they will continue on for the love of the animal.
01:58People wonder why crocodiles, they think they are ugly but to me they are fabulous animals.
02:05You release them and they stay there.
02:07They look at you and suddenly they seem to think, what am I doing now in this gigantic river?
02:12And then they start swimming in the river and it is something wonderful.
