LangleyAdvance
Seasonal glow pg A12-13
Your community newspaper since 1931
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Your source for local sports, news, weather, and entertainment: www.langleyadvance.com
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Audited circulation: 41,100 – 24 pages
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Julian Flandez, not quite two years of age, had second thoughts about the broccoli he popped in his mouth at the Gateway of Hope community lunch. The Salvation Army invited the community in for a traditional Christmas meal on Dec. 24. The Flandez family was among many people who enjoyed breaking bread in the spirit of the season.
Cash in on high gold prices.
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Alligator dogged by paper tigers An alligator larger than a human being was living in a Langley shed for years. by Matthew Claxton mclaxton@langleyadvance.com
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Conservation officers arrived at Mike Hopcraft’s Abbotsford home just a day after a widely publicized move of an alligator from Langley. Hopcraft picked up the gator, a 7’6” reptile, from a Port Kells-area home Dec. 21, and took it to his reptile shelter. The animal’s previous owner is moving overseas and couldn’t take it with him. However, 24 hours later, an Abbotsford Police officer and BC Conservation officer turned up on Hopcraft’s doorstep. They wanted to see the permit for the animal – the province recently began requiring permits for exotic animals. Hopcraft said he received verbal permission from BC Ministry of the Environment officials for the move, and he’s filled out paperwork for the permit, but it hasn’t been issued yet. Among other things, photos of the animals are required as part of the permit, along with photos of its enclosure. Hopcraft said he couldn’t get alligator photos until the date of the move. He also wonders why officials only turned up after the move, when he notified the government about three weeks ago. The holidays are complicating the matter. Hopcraft hasn’t managed to get in touch with any of the officials he spoke to before the move. The Langley Advance attempted to contact
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Mike Hopcraft (centre), and a crew removed the alligator Dec. 21, 2010.
staff at the ministry and the Conservation Service, but most were on holiday. Due to the complications the move has caused, Hopcraft has renamed the alligator Pandora. Hopcraft said Pandora is not the only animal he’s still trying to get a permit for. He’s applied for permits for other creatures at his reptile refuge, but so far hasn’t received the paperwork back from the government. In some cases, he’s been waiting for months, Hopcraft said. However, Pandora is doing well after her move, he said. The gator was being kept in a pool in a converted shed at its previous home. It seems to have no medical issues. Hopcraft has been in touch with a vet and with staff from the Greater Vancouver Zoo in Aldergrove, who helped with the move. While Hopcraft himself is fascinated with reptiles, he doesn’t recommend them as pets, especially large, potentially dangerous ones like this gator.
“They’re dangerous at a quarter of this size,” Hopcraft said. He once barely avoided being bitten by a small caiman at his shelter. The animal’s jaws didn’t quite clamp down on his hand, but two teeth scratched him. He needed 17 stitches. “I would never recommend them as pets,” he said. Changes in recent years to provincial exotic animal laws make it illegal to possess animals such as venomous snakes, pythons, large lizards, and crocodiles without permits. Hopcraft said this animal’s owner didn’t have one. Most people with large reptiles didn’t bother to get permits when the laws changed, he said. Because they don’t take their animals out in public, there is little chance of them being caught by provincial authorities. “There’s no way of knowing how many are out there,” he said. Alligators, crocodiles, caimans, and large snakes are sold when they’re quite small and seem manageable. But as with this gator – the largest Hopcraft has ever brought to his shelter – they can grow to a tremendous size. They are also a major commitment, due to their long life spans. An alligator can easily live 50 years. Yet people still snap them up when they’re imported from the United States, South America, Asia, or Africa. A few years ago, Hopcraft heard that a Surrey pet store was selling young caimans. About 20 were snapped up in two weeks. Many of these animals will wind up being seized or turned over to refuges like Hopcraft’s. A few weeks before the gator, he had to trap a four-foot-long black throat monitor lizard under a South Surrey home.