Australian police on drug raid find three crocodiles in home

PERTH, AUSTRALIA, AUG 1: Police searching a house for drugs Tuesday found three saltwater crocodiles being kept as pets in the living room...

PERTH, AUSTRALIA, AUG 1: Police searching a house for drugs Tuesday found three saltwater crocodiles being kept as pets in the living room. The baby crocodiles, 50 centimetres (20 inches) long, were being held in a temperature-controlled glass tank of water in the house, northeast of Perth.

Department of Conservation and Land Management investigations officer Rick Dawson said a 37-year-old man would be charged with illegal possession of specially protected fauna, which carries fines up to 10,000 dollars (6,000 US).

He added that saltwater crocodiles were extremely dangerous and difficult to handle, particularly when they reached a metre long (3.3 feet), and could grow up to seven metres (23 feet). In the wild, an average five-metre (16.5 feet) crocodile weighs about 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) and could easily consume a small horse. "They don’t usually eat humans but their only instinct is to survive and if they get hungry enough they will attack humans," he said. The man admitted capturing the crocodiles two months ago while on a fishing trip in Australia’s East Kimberley region, Dawson added. Last week police found three pythons, one of them a rare Olive python, during a drugs bust on a Perth house.