Huge, Critically Endangered Crocodile Suffers Slow, Agonizing Death

A massive crocodile was found floating belly-up after it died slowly and painfully from a fishing gear injury.

The 11-foot crocodile was discovered on November 5 in the Placencia Lagoon in Belize by a local fisherman. A local nonprofit conservation group, the Crocodile Research Coalition (CRC), was notified and determined that the reptile had died between 48 and 72 hours earlier as a result of swallowing a baited hook.

A Facebook post by the CRC said, "It is common practice for fishermen to use baited hooks to catch grouper, however this form of fishing is indiscriminate (similar to gill nets) and other wildlife can be caught and killed." The hooks can pierce through the crocodile's stomach and other internal organs, leading to a "slow and agonizing death," the post added.

American crocodiles are one of the largest crocodile species, growing up to 20 feet long and weighing 2,000 pounds. They live in river estuaries, coastal lagoons and mangrove swamps and can tolerate both fresh and brackish waters. They are considered critically endangered in Belize, according to the CRC, and are classified as vulnerable worldwide on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List.

Very few genetically pure American crocodiles are left in Belize because of habitat loss, illegal hunting and pollution. Many of the remaining individuals are hybrids.

"The last time this happened was in 2019 with a baited hook, as we mentioned [in the post]. It is illegal to hunt crocs in Belize. We likely won't find out who did it," Marisa Tellez, a crocodile specialist and founder of the CRC, told Newsweek.

"You will hear many fishermen and hunters discuss that much of the illegal activity happening here is from those coming in from Honduras and Guatemala," she said.

"We can't confirm that in every case, but given fishermen and hunters from Guatemala and Honduras do get arrested here for illegal activity with our wildlife, it's not implausible some of the issues we are facing in the lagoon are not from Belize. But we also have many immigrants coming in who aren't aware of our laws or don't have the same connection to nature as Belizeans," Tellez said.

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Only between 1,000 and 2,000 American crocodiles live in Mexico, Central America and South America, according to National Geographic. However, survey data for all of their habitats except Florida is severely limited. The last survey in Belize was done in 2000 and found only 250 crocodiles in the country.