Albino alligators were stolen from University in Brazil by Ivana Bruderova

When the zookeeper of the Brazilian University zoo came as usual in the Wednesday morning to fed albino alligators, he noticed instead of eight in their terrarium was only one. The Federal University of Mato Grosso suppose they were stolen by smugglers, because of their rarity and of course price which is about $9,700 apiece. The albino alligators live only in captivity because in the nature they have no chance to survive due to their color of skin. It makes them unable to hide and mask which is necessary for to be a predator, not a booty. "The theft was carried out sometimes between Monday when the alligators were last fed and Wednesday and there were no signs of break in," Itamar Assumpcao, zoo director told The Associated Press. Nowadays, illegal trading with animals is a serious problem not only in Brazil. There are several organizations fighting against this phenomena. Renctas, Brazil non-governmental organization claims the illegal animal trading worth $10 billion to $20 billion around the globe per year. About 15 percent of it come to Brazil. For smugglers it's really lucrative business. Especially when the animals are so rare as for instance this albino alligators. Police think they could be stollen for sell them abroad or to another smugglers in Brazil. At the beginning University get male and female of alligator which were not albino but they color was much lighter than alligator's skin used to be. After ten years of inbreeding, in the 2005 the real albino alligators were born. Seven of it were stolen last week. The smugglers left only one, and another two are at The Sao Paulo Aquarium.

by Ivana Bruderova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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